Just in Time
by LadyFenris22
Summary: In the year 2185 the Avatar became but a myth told to children before bedtime. Bending is long forgotten by the humans who seem so utterly inferior to other races in the galaxy and biotics only come rarely and with serious health issues. But what happens when the legends become reality again in the face of the coming Reaper threat? A Mass Effect x Avatar crossover.
1. Chapter 1: Betrayal

_Hello, everyone and welcome to a new crossover story of mine. Those who are following me may already know my other story "Companions" and I actually planned on finishing that one first before I come up with something else. But after replaying Mass Effect I had this marvelous idea about an Avatar Crossover and a lot of ideas for this one that I couldn't help but start realizing it before I forget about it. So here it is. Don't worry I'll be working on the other story as well._

 _Now about this crossover:_

 _As I played Mass Effect I thought to myself that it would be slightly more epic with a touch of fantasy and bending in it. Especially the bending would be a very unique characteristic of humans in particular. And it will be brought back to the human kind by my OC, the long forgotten Avatar Nadira. So as you can see I didn't just add bending to the whole franchise. The art will also be somewhat new to the humans in this story but still familiar. As the story developes you will know why humanity just didn't take over the galaxy with a devastating inferno, fueled by Sozin's comet. So, please don't be impatient about that. :) Furthermore Earth will be some sort of an Avatar/real Life mashup, so in other words there my be mentions of historical events of the Avatarvers but also real historical events. And I will try to combine it properly so it won't seem illogical._

 _Besides the new Avatar there also will be multiple other OC's. And though not in the description mentioned, there will be romance as well, of course. Pairings will be:_

 _Shakarian (obviously)_

 _OCxJoker (Don't get me wrong on that one. I like the EDI/Joker romance, but I found Joker so damned cute that I always yearned for a player romance. So this will be compensation for that unfullfilled wish.)_

 _And now enjoy the story. Hope you like it. :)_

* * *

 **Year 2085**

 _Water_

 _Earth_

 _Fire_

 _Air_

 _165 years ago Avatar Korra reopened the portals to the Spirit World permantly. After defeating Vaatu, The Red Lotus and Kuvira a new era began in which humans and spirits lived together in piece and harmony. The opening of the portals created a spiritual energy shift, which caused non benders to become airbenders instead. Following this event the poeple of the air nomads rose to greatness again and after Avatar Korra's passing the cycle of the Avatar was able to continue in its natural order..._

* * *

The wind that swirled through her hair was cold, yet clean and refreshing. With a deep breath she inhaled her element, letting it circle through her body only to relax in her meditation and breath it out again.

Another cold breeze brushed over her hair. It let her long dark brown, curly strains float around her shoulders before it came back together in an ebony cascade behind her back again.

Right now there was nothing occupying her, only her desire to let her mind and her spirit be free.

 _Strange_ , she thought.

 _I thought being the Avatar was going to be more exciting_. But it wasn't long until she understood that being the Avatar wasn't as spectecular as she had imagined. In fact it wasn't interesting at all. The most exciting part of it was the anouncment that she was the Avatar in the first place and after that the bending training was kind of fun, especially the traveling.

As an air nomad she never stayed at one place, traveling to master the elements was thus the best part about being the Avatar:

She saw new places, made friends all round the world.

But that had been pretty much about it. After she had oficially masterd all four elements, she mostly spend her time with visiting friends, attending national events and festivities, visiting her mother every now and then, and returning to the Eastern Air Temple for tranquility and spiritual contemplation.

 _People seem to take care of problems on their own._

Today, she thought, was no different. She sat on the balcony of her room in the Eastern Air Temple, alone, with no noise but her own breathing to be heared. Therefore she immediatly took notice of the light footsteps which were aproaching her from behind. The earthbendng technique she had learned from her earthbending master helped of course.

 _Stand your ground. Be patient and listen!_ Sifu Lao had told her, when she had started to practice earthbending under his supervision.

„Avatar Nadira.", a soft voice behind her said. A child's voice, of a boy between 10 and 12 years old. The young woman slowly turned around to face the young messanger. He was shorter than her of course, about 1,50 m perhaps. His head was bald, like all the other male apprentices in the temple. The boy did his best to hold his back straight, while he struggled to keep eye contact with her.

She gave him a warm reassuring smile to ease the tension.

Nadira started to get used to this kind of behaviour. Eventhough she hadn't done any meaningfull deeds in her Avatar carreer yet, everyone was regarding her with great respect and devotion.

Her smile had her desired effect, as the boy seemed to relax in her presence. She then responded:

„Yes?"

„Monk Joseph wishes to speak with you, Avatar. In his office.", the young boy quickly answered.

Nadira nodded.

„Thank you. I will be going right away.", she said.

The young boy then put his fist into his opened palm and bowed before her, before he turned around and ran off.

With a graceful movement the airbender stood up. Before she made her way to Monk Joseph's office, she let a stream of air straighten her silver kimono, to make it fall properly on the back side. It wasn't a traditional kimono, which coverd all of her leggs of couse. She wore a variaty that allowed her to move freely, when she was bending, while maintaing a certain amount of classiness.

(Avatar Nadira paid a lot of attention to her appearance, even if she doesn't like to admit it). Like on a traditional kimono the sleeves were wide and long, however they didn't cover her shoulders. On the front side the kimono was short, while it became increasingly longer towards the back side, falling around her leggs in elegant waves. It was tied together with a white, silver embroided obi, which on the other hand was held together with a light blue ribbon, knotted with the emblemt of the air nomads in the front.

Underneath the kimono she wore a light blue, short dress, same blue as the ribbon around the obi and her shoes were a pair of white overknee boots. Her catching outfit was rounded by the necklace she wore around her neck:

A white ribbon, laced with silver pearls, on which hung a charm, also showing the emblem of the air nomads.

* * *

Nadira wasn't rushing her steps when she made her way through the temple to Monk Joseph's office. Still relaxed from her meditation she opened the door to the elder monk's room. The first one who greeted her, however, when she entered, was not the monk himself but a tall, young man with piercing blue eyes, matching the blue arrows on his head and body, for his clothing which consisted of a red and yellow tunic, that hung loseley around his left shoulder, held together by a dark red belt and wide red trousers, stuffed in also red boots, didn't hide much. With a charming smile, that meltd every girl's heart in this temple he greeted her.

„There you are! And I thought you might've fallen asleep from your boredoom along the way."

Her dark brown eyes, met his gaze.

„How's that even possible? With screaming, food stealing lemurs and a herd of air scootering kids?"

„Are you implying something, Nadira-chan?", he purred charmingly.

„Nothing that you already know, Takashi-kun.", she answered.

In fact, last week all the teachers were away for a meeting on a different air temple. So the children were entrusted to a group of elder apprentices and young benders, who were recognized as masters in their field. Takashi was among them and found joy in teaching the kids how to make an airscooter and annoy the hell out of the rest of he temple's population.

„Ehem..."

The low cough of the office's owner cought the youngsters off guard and turned their attention to the elder monk.

„Don't want to interupt your flirting, kids. But I was the one who called you here in the first place and there is also a reason to it. Never would've guessed that, right?", he commented in his usual, dry sarcastic manner.

Monk Joseph Moreau was rather young for someone who was in charge for coordinating the education for the young airbenders and the temple's flight departement. But the blue arrow on his head was proof that he had mastered airbending and was thus qualified for his job.

Joseph carfully maneuverd his wheel chair towards the young benders. While Nadira observed his movements she felt a light sting in her heart. She knew he didn't like it when people pittied him. The arrow indicated he didn't need it, but she also knew it took him a lot of strength to earn it. Still, Vrolik's Syndrome was not kind, it never had been.

His wheelchair came to stop right in front of her. His blue-green eyes locked on her, his smile vanished from his bearded face which was rare to witness from him.

 _Something's not right._ , she thought before the elder monk began to speak:

„Your former waterbending master called. She requested your assistance in a matter, which is, to recite her words 'rather delicate and not suitable to be discussed via phonecall'."

He mockingly waved quotation marks around the last part of his sentence.

„Oh? Sounds like you are finally getting some action, oh mighty Avatar!", Takashi chuckled.

„Very funny...", Nadira commeted dryly on what Takashi thought to be a joke, then returned her attention to Monk Joseph.

„And?", she asked for further explanations.

„And? And that's about it. She wanted to discuss the rest with you in private once you arrive at the Nothern Water Tribe.", the monk answered.

Nadira scowled sceptically. Secrecy wasn't really the character of her former waterbending master. Whatever the tasks she had given her during her training, she had explained in perfect clarity. Why the hiding now?

„That is...unusual. Are you sure there aren't more details about this request?"

Monk Joseph shook his head.

„She said it is a problem only the Avatar can solve. If I had to guess I would say it has something to do with spirits."

„But I need more information. I am not even certain if it really lays in my power to take care of this ominous request.", Nadira protested.

„I know and I wish I could tell you more, but this is really all I know about this."

The Avatar sighed heavily and defeated.

„Fine, I guess I have no other choice."

The older airbender smiled warmly. Very carefully he stood up and the moment he had fully stretched his leggs, his feet stopped touching the floor. Streams of air carried him closer to her. Still defying the laws of physics he placed a hand on her shoulder.

„I already organized a flight to the Nothern Water Tribe. Your shuttle goes tomorrow morning at 8 'o'clock.", he told her. She didn't respond, instead she looked at him with a tortured expression, mostly to stress her annoyance towards the early morning time but also to underline her concern about her new, unknown task.

Monk Joseph noticed that as well and added:

„You'll be fine, Nadira. And when you come back we'll toss some fruit cream pies on the heads of those idiotic high monks and mothers."

The young woman actually laughed at the last comment and nodded.

„All Right, Joseph. But put extra cream on those pies!"

Now he laughed and answered:

„Will do. But I suggest you go make some preperations for your journey tomorrow. I also have some work to do."

Nadira and Takashi put their fists into their palms and bowed deeply before their elder before they left the office. While leaving Monk Joseph turned once again to them:

„Oh and Takashi? You will acompany her."

„Yes, sir!", the younger man responded and closed the door behind him.

As Nadira made her way through the temple's hallway she noticed the footsteps of Takashi who was following her. She walked past an ancient paintig, that was roughly 10 000 years old. Using a wide spectrum of colours the relic showed the history of the first airbenders. How they had recieved their ability from the great Air Lion Turtle, the refinement of their art, which they later had learned from the Sky Bisons and between those two events the beginning of the Avatar Cycle:

A young man standing between two spirits, who looked like negative reflections of eachother, indicating their independence on eachother; light and darkness, yin and yang, sound and silence, Raava and Vaatu, and Avatar Wan right in between this simple, yet essential and devastating conflict. The next scene showed how Wan merged with Raava, quickly followed by a depiction of Wan in the Avatar State, while he sealed Vaatu away in a prison made of all four elements.

Nadira finally came to stand, when Takashi stepped in front of her. He casually leaned on the wall beside them and let his tunic fall even loser on purpose, revealing more of his muscuar chest.

 _Oh, quit showing off, will you?,_ she thought and let her gaze knowingly wander to the window on her other side.

„So, an unkown mission. Just you and me. Don't you think that is a good oprtunity to get a little bit closer, Nadira-chan?", he said. His voice was deep and clear, its resonance harmonic and tempting. Takashi was the kind of man who could speak complete nonsense and could still get people to listen to him, _and he knew it_.

The Avatar returned her eyefocus to him, trying hard not to let it drift further south.

„We already know eachother Takashi. What else do you want?", she asked.

„Come on, Nadira! Don't pretend you don't know. I want more...", he started one of his countless love confessions to her.

Nadira rose a hand and silenced him.

„No Takashi.", she simply said.

„But why?", he asked with a tone that made clear he was angry that she interrupted him like she did.

„We already talked about this. You're actually no type for a relationship. You always need the attentiom of everyone and I am a too jealous woman for your casual bits on the side, Takashi.", she explained firmly.

„But if you would give me a chance...", he began anew.

„Please, Takashi. I have seen how you value the love of a woman; like that time when you had a thing for the bison keeper but at the same time you were seeng this new young abbess...", she then continued.

„But you are different...", he attempted once more.

„ I bet you told that one to the bison keeper, too.", she waved his affort away. At that he straightened his back and crossed his arms in front of his revealed chest.

„That's more difficult than I expected.", he said sharply.

„I am not your trophy, Takashi. Besides I don't have time for your childish games, so let's keep this professional, okay?"

The young man exhaled heavily and let his crossed arms fall down on both sides of his body.

„Very well. You know where my quarters are should you happen to change your mind.", he then finished his miserable flirting attempt and walked past her, back into the direction of Monk Joseph's office. On the way he greeted a few girls, who seemed to be on their way o the bison stables, which also layed in the same direction as Nadira's quarters. They giggled girlishly and Nadira coudn't help but roll her eyes, before she walked the rest of her remaining way.

* * *

When she had arrived at her quarters she was playfully ambushed by her trusty animal companion. Sheyla was a white tiger with black stripes and icy blue eyes. The beast had jumped on her which caused the airbender to fall back on her bottom, before she recieved the tiger version of a welcome kiss: a very wet lick on her face from a larg tiger tounge. Nadira stroked the fur on her head and further down her back in response.

„Hey girl! Glad to see you, too."

The tiger returned the greeting words of her mistress with a low growl and turned on her back, exposing her unstriped stomach.

The Avatar immediatly understood and proceeded in stroking the belly of the beast. A satisfied purr was her reward.

„Yeah, who's my big fluffy kitty cat? Yes, you are. Yes, you are.", she said while she still stroked the tiger's belly.

„Hey Sheyla, guess what?", she then asked her companion. Suddenly the tiger turned around and faced her with a soft roar.

„Tomorrow we are going on a journey together.", Nadira anounced.

Another short roar.

„To the Nothern Water Tribe. We are going to meet Sifu Yuka gain.", she explained as a response.

„Which reminds me; I should pack."

With another short roar the tiger followed her mistress as she stood up from the floor and went to her warderobe. With a swift movement she opened both doors and tried to figure out what she would need.

 _Warm clothing and a thick jacket would be smart._ And as soon as she finished her thought she grabbed her large leather backpack (artifical leather, of course, no way that an animal had to die for her superficial appearance) and stuffed a selection of thick woolly jumpers, trousers and the royal blue coat she had recieved as a farewll gift, after mastering waterbending. The coat had a stripe of traditional Water Tribe embroidment on the chest and the sleeve's, hood's and lower edges were laced with white, fluffy artificial fur. She completed her luggage with a pair of brown boots of which she thought would be warm enough to keep her feet protected from the cold, and of course a pair of thick gloves, matching her blue coat.

Next she packed her weapons; actually only the small silver fans fit into the backpack, but she put her glider and the big (also silver) fan, right next to it. This way she wouldn't just forget them when she departed tomorrow. She added her hairbrush, as well as the shampoo and the conditioner along with the shower gel.

The only thing she had left over now was her toothbrush. She would add that the next day, after she brushed her teeth in the morning. After she was done she stared at her backpack for a while. She still wasn't comfortable with this whole last minute trip and just for a moment wondered if she would be coming back any time soon. Nadira shook her head in quick denial.

 _What the hell am I thinking? Of course I will come back! This will take a week at best!_

With this thought her eys drifted to her laptop standing on the simple wooden desk, right next to her warderobe. With flowing steps she paced to the computer. Delicately she opened the device and went straight to her live messanger account. She clicked on her mother's profile and mechanically started a call.

It beeped a few times before the familar face of her mother smiled at her through the webcam.

„Nadira, my dear."

„Hey, Mom."

„I didn't expect your call, darling. Did something happen?"

„Well, yes, no, perhaps."

Scared by her own stuttering and nervousness she backed away for a second.

 _I'm just going to the North Pole, dammit. Nothing strange with that!,_ she kept telling herself but it didn't make her weird cocktail of fear and nervousness any better.

„What's wrong, sweetheart?", the elder woman asked, while she cocked her head slightly to the side and Nadira could've sworn that she saw herself asking this question. She brushed off the thought trying to convince herself that it was the resemblence she happened to bear to her mother.

Indeed the young woman and her mother looked a lot alike. The only differences were, that her mother's hair was significantly shorter ( barely reached her shoulders), her face bore the unoverseeable signs of age and she was a little chubbier than her daughter, who was rather muscular from the bending training.

Nadira took one deep breath before she proceeded.

„Nothing's wrong, mom. I'll be going to the Nothern Water Tribe tomorrow."

„What has lead you to the North Pole, child?"

She could almost hear the shiver in her sentence.

„Sifu Yuka has a...an issue for which she needs my help to deal with. It's nothing big, I guess I'll be done in a week or so. Thought I might want to come for a visit as well."

„Well if that's the case, then I wish you luck, Can't wait to see you again, darling."

For some reason her mother's warm voice waked the urge in her to cry.

„Yeah, me too. Mom?"

„Yes, dear?"

„I love you."

„I love you, too."

 _Why does this feel like a final goodbye?_

„I...uh...will be going now. Shuttle goes early in the morning. Need all the extra rest I can get."

„That sounds reasonable. Then I will not delay you. Goodbye, sweetheart. Sleep well."

„Goodbye, Mom."

Immediatly after the call had ended she shut down the laptop, she rushed to her balcony. It took all her strength not to break out into tears with no reason.

 _There isn't a reason,is there?_

She bit her lower lip and stared up to the black, star dotted, night sky. Staring into the seemingly eternal void of space had a relaxing effect on her. Slowly she losened the bite on her lip and exhaled in frustration.

This whole situation was odd and confusing, Hell, she didn't even notice how late it had become. With another heavy sigh she brushed her hands through her hair and turned to her room again. She closed the balcony door and let her orange curtains fall upon it.

Something was very wrong with Sifu Yuka's request. Nadira only wasn't sure yet what exactly it was.

To distract herself she changed into her pajamas and ran straight to her bath room to brush her teeth. After that she crawled into her bed and covered herslef with her favorite blanket. During the next hours she was very busy with falling asleep while forcing herself not to think about the possibilities of reasons behind Sifu Yuka's request, until at some point she fell into the endless void of a dreamless slumber.

* * *

The hours Nadira actually had slept felt way too short to be really restful. So she struggled to get up when she opened her eyes to the illuminating rays of the rising morning sun. In the end it was the nuzzling of her tiger demanding a breakfast from her mistress that forced her to climb out of her bed sheets.

From a corner she grabbed a metal bowl and filled it with a mix of dried fish and meat for Sheyla. That was about the only meat they had in the whole temple, as all monks, nuns and apprentices were vegetarians.

While her majestic tiger lady swallowed her breakfast, Nadira wandered to he warderobe and changed her pajamas with the outfit she would wear for the journey:

A thick, long sleeved pale grey yukata, that ended right under her bottom, closed with a brown leather belt around her waist. She combined it with slim fitting dark blue jeans and her brown boots she had decided to unpack from her backpack during her clothing process. And of course her air nomad necklace needed to be present around her neck.

Casually she paced to her balcony door and opened it. Nadira walked out and let her gaze wander upon the sight that offered itself to her under the early morning sun.

On the right hand side she saw a group of various monks and nuns, sitting on an elevated ground, surrounded by tiny trees and bushes. Their eyes were closed, fists pressed against eachother; they were meditating.

Further on the left a bunch of kids played; tossing an airball around and forming airscooters, escaping with the ball from eachother. The group dissolved soon when a nun came to them, ushering them to the bison stables. They were going to take their first flight lessons it would seem.

A firm knock on the door distracted her from the view. A muffled voice spoke with her:

„Are you awake?"

„Come in Takashi.", she called back.

With a short clicking noise the door opened and Takashi enterd the room with confident steps.

„Good morning, oh great Bridge between our and the Spirit World.", he greetd her after he had closed the door behind him.

She turned around and greeted him back:

„Good Morning to you, too, oh mighty womanizer of the Eastern Air Temple."

He laughed a clear, pearling laugh and came closer to her.

„So? Ready to go?"

„Yeah, kind of...". she responded warily. Within a heart beat his sneaky grin dissappeared from his handsome, masculine face, the gaze of his crystal eyes pierced right through her.

„Ever since you recieved this request you started to behave so strangly. What's wrong?", he asked.

„This whole request is wrong. I don't know why but I can't get rid of the feeling that we will be regretting that we went there."

„What lets you think that?"

„Like I said, I don't know. It's just a feeling."

„So you are just paranoid."

„I'm not paranoid. I..."

Nadira sighed in frustration. The more she talked the more she felt she sounded stupid, but at the same time this crawling feeling of suspicion and fear would not let itself be shaken away through reason. So in conclusion she had no valid concerns, she could had had explained to her team mate, which on the other hand was making her even more angry and frustrated.

Completly lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized that Takashi had moved his hand to her face. So she almost – considering her current state of unclear alarm – hit him with a powerful air strike, which could had knocked him out easily.

Luckily she kept her reflexes under control, so she only twitched when his lithe fingers stroked her cheek and made her look him into the eyes.

„We will be fine, Nadira-chan."

„I have a feeling we won't."

„You and your damnd intuition."

„My intuition has already saved my ass more than once."

His sneaky smile returned to his sensual lips, while his hands left her cheek and moved to her left hand instead.

Takashi grasped her wrist and tightened his hold when Nadira struggled to free herself. As she surrenderd, he lead her hand right in front of her face. Her palm was turned to his direction while he forced her to look at the back of her hand.

„You see this?", he asked.

„So what?", she hissed in clear annoyance.

„Look at it!", he demanded.

She did as she was told. Nadira let her brown eyes examine the tattoo on her hand, which continued to wrapp itself around the rest of her arm, where it reached her back and from there continued to swirl around of her other arm and both of her leggs.

The tattoo was very similar to the traditional blue arrows of the other airbender masters, but first of all it wasn't blue - she had selected a pale grey when she had recieved it - and secondly its pattern was much more complicated than the simple blunt arrows of the other masters; it still had the form of an arrow, but it consisted of a complicated net of swirls, curves and decorative lines.

After she had mastered airbending, tradition demanded that this achivement should be branded on her and tradition actually dictated that masters should honor their skills and the source of it by mimicking the arrow pattern of the Sky Bisons. Thousands of years it had been the typical blue arrow, that Avatar Aang and other meaningfull airbenders had worn.

But Avatar Nadira hadn't been born in one of the airtemples, so the tradition was too distant to her. Also she hadn't liked the idea of going around with a blue arrow on her forhead for the rest of her life. The result had been that Nadira went for a variaty that she found fit to her and her style , which the abbots and abbesses found an acceptable compromise to balance indiviuality and tradition.

„I looked at it, and?", she then questioned.

„It means you are a master. You have earned those tattoos through talent and hard work. They are witnesses of your strength, Nadira. Besides you are the Avatar and can bend all the other elements as well and if something really goes very wrong you still have the Avatar State. So don't worry."

„I...guess...you're right.. Thank you, Takashi.", she finally gave in.

„That's my girl!", he exclaimed and softly kissed the back of her hand, which was first aswered with a punch in the arm and then with an angry hiss:

„I am not _your girl_!"

He laughed his melodic laugh again.

„All right, All right. But we need to get moving, or we'll miss our flight."

* * *

Only moments later Takashi and Nadira, acompanied by her tiger Sheyla, arrived at the shuttle gate area where Monk Joseph was already waiting for them. On the way Nadira had catched a cappuccino and a hazelnut chocalte muffin as a breakfast. Not really healthy, she knew, but she wasn't in the mood for an all round healthy breakfast with fruits and vegetables. Besides she didn't have the time for it.

„Good morining, guys. You ready for your journey?", Monk Joseph greeted them.

„Tell me I get a last chance to turn this request down.", Nadira answered.

„Sorry, Nadira. This is an oder from the High Mothers and Monks."

„Of course it is...", she sighed.

The next moment she felt breezes and streams of air dance around her and when she lifted her gaze she saw the elder monk float in front of her. He gently put a hand on one of her shoulders and smiled reassuringly.

„It will be all right. Whatever you are going to find, I'm sure you'll know how to handle it. We trained you well."

„Thank you, Joseph.", she said and smiled back at him and before she knew it she warpped her arms around the monk and hugged him tightly. He was a bit startled at first but than put his arms around her waist in response.

It may had looked like a romantice gesture to outsiders but in reality it was not. Monk Joseph was already a decade or more older than Nadira. She had met him when she first arrived at the temple. She was in her early teenage years (11 or 12 years perhaps). At that time he already was in his early twenties ( She never asked him about his age). He had mentored her in her spiritual training and basically raised her during that time. So he was more like a father or an older brother to her, both things she never had had. Also Monk Joseph was happily married to a nun who worked as a pilot in the very departement she was standing in.

After a few moments they let go.

„See you next week.", Monk Joseph whispered warmly and like the time she had been talking to her mother Nadira felt the rising urge in her to cry. She didn't dare to open her mouth. She was afraid she'd lose control over herself if she did so, so she just nodded.

With a handshake also Takashi bade the elder monk farewell and the youngsters made their way to the shuttle, that would take them to their destination.

One last time the Avatar turned around. Still smiling Monk Joseph waved his hand at her, a final goodbye on his side. Then she returned to the shuttle and passed the last meters to its entrance.

* * *

The shuttle they took was wide and comfortable inside, designed only for few passengers and sufficient room for animal companions like Sheyla and hand luggage. On the outside the craft resembled a care rather than a regular airplane, which were still taking people to various destiantions. However the airshuttles had begun to take over as new transportation means for long distances. They were faster and safer; in case of a malfunction or emergency they were able to land on a wider range of grounds, unlike an airplane that almost always needed a long, firmly built street for the landing. Furthermore they didn't stay luxury products for rich people only. The production was beginning to become cheaper and the airshuttle's efficiency was higher advanced than those of airplanes, which means they were able to consume only very few fuel on long distances, also making them cheaper for the common people.

And in Nadira's case the new hightech crafts were a very suitable solution for Sifu Yuka's odd request for descretion.

After 3-4 hours the pilot anounced through the comm that they were ready for landing. Through the door, that lead to the pilot seat she could hear him requesting permission to decend from the Nothern Water Tribe's control towers.

„I think I'll never get used to it.", she heard Takashi mumble absentmindedly while he was looking out of the window.

„What do you mean?", Nadira asked.

„I mean this place.", he said and lifted his chin towards the window. Nadira now also took a look at it.

It was dark, not because they arrived so late, but because it was still winter and during that season, the sun would not rise until spring would begin.

Underneath them the metropolis of the Nothern Water Tribe was spreading in every direction from the icy ocean, to the mighty endless glaciers. On the ocean side were the gates of the tribe - the emblem of the Water Tribe was carved into it - which could only be opened by waterbending and lead to the giant haven, which was also fromed from ice and in this case water canals. Freighters and cruisers from all around the world, carrying people and goods, were docked at the bays. After the haven came the city. Houses or rather palaces built from ice, blocks seperated by the artificial water streets created so long ago, by the very first waterbenders who mimicked the tides created by the moon. Further in the center Nadira saw skyscrapers, also made of ice but merged with steel for stabilty, rose into the sky, almost touching the colourful polar lights which were dancing like they were competing for beauty against the stars. Her eyes wanderd further where the tribe chief's palace was standing. Though old it was still the most impressive building of the whole place. The plaza in front of it was decorated with ice wells and sculptures, leading the way to the ice stairs that lead to the palace's entrance.

The palace itself was a big, multiple leveled building, edges formed like the gracefull waves of the sea. Up close artistic carvings gave the building its final touch. Those couldn't be seen from the shuttle, of course, but Nadira had been to the palace more than once, so she remembered exactly what it looked like and by now she understood what Takashi meant by his comment.

The Nothern Water Tribe was a surreal mix of ancient spirituality and static, futuristic features.

Of some sorts it was strange to look at, almost overhelming but also fascinating. There was no other place compareable to the Nothern Water Tribe.

 _Tribe my ass_ , Nadira thought, considering the sheer size of the city underneath.

In the next 10 minutes the airshuttle constantly decended on its asigned landing ground. When it finally landed the young woman grabbed her backpack and took her coat and a cloath for her tiger in the same royal blue colouration. First she got dressed herself, then she she put the cloath on the back of her tiger and closed it with several leather belts at the belly of the beast. Sheylas was protected by her thick fur, but the weather at the Eastern Air Temple's mountains was relativaly mild compared to the mercyless blizards of the north pole.

As soon as the shuttle's door was slid open the sharp cold that was familiar to her from her training period at this place, welcomed her back.

Already waiting for her stood her former master, Sifu Yuka, with her elegant, respect demanding figure; though already mature in age her sight was still impressive.

Her hair was dark, with several strains of silver in it. It was tied back in a long, complex braid, no single lock escaping out of its order.

Her eyes were a deep ocean blue, shining with the light of half a century of experience and wisdom. Rosy lips curled up into a perfect, but somehow cold smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was dressed in a dark blue coat, that reminded Nadira of the unexplored depths of the sea. Underlining her still well formed body the coat was held together with a white, furry belt around the waist. Traditional Water Tribe embroidments decorated the cloath in lighter shades of blue. As the older woman aproached the young Avatar, her long velvet dress slid over the frozen ground.

A low whistle rang out from Takashi.

„She is still hot for her age.", he said and earned an elbow punch from his team mate.

Sifu Yuka then bowed deeply in front of them.

„It is an honor to welcome the Avatar at the Nothern Water Tribe."

Nadira and Takashi put their fists into their palms and returned the gesture.

„The honor is mine, Sifu Yuka.", the Avatar said, before she came up and and spoke, what she actually burnt to say.

„But may I know for what exactly you require the help of the Avatar? I was not told much when I recieved your request, Sifu."

Instantly the smile vanished from Yuka's face. Her expression was cold and motionless, her eyes sharp and calculating. Nadira felt the elder woman's gaze pierce right through her, examining every cell of her body, as if she was searching for something.

 _What the hell is going on here?_

„You will soon know.", the Sifu then answered. „But first the Tribe's chief would like to welcome you, Avatar."

Nadira and Takashi then were ushered to a wooden kanuu, and like everything in this place, it was decorated with traditional carvings.

Though owning a car or a shuttle was already common place in the world, the high tech crafts were not suited for the Nothern Water Tribe's architecure, namly the ancient water streets, that spread like a net through out the city.

After a while the group reached the plaza of the chief's palace. They walked past the statues to the rampant stairs. The whole time neither of them had spoken a word and Sifu Yuka seemed to avoid any sort of eyecontact with the Avatar on purpose. These circumstances were like fuel to the motor of Nadira's concern driven mind.

Sifu Yuka was never a person for emotional welcomes and farwells and she definitly never exposed her feelings to other people quite casually. But this kind of behaviour was way too cold even for Yuka.

Finally they reached the the typical flowing movements of waterbending, two guards opened the massive ice gate. As soon as they were inside the chiefe welcomed them with open arms.

„Welcome, welcome! The Nothern Water Tribe is glad to have you as a guest Avatar.", the man said. „It is my honor, Chief Ataneq.", once again she bowed deeply.

Chief Ataneq was a corpulent man in his late fifties, who tended not to to take matters too seriously and laughed a lot. Therefore his criticisers always pointed out that a man who bahaved like a child shouldn't be trusted with the gouvernmant of a nation. But their criticism had laways remained empty, as the citiziens of the Nothern Water Tribe felt sympathy for the spontanious man and that he treated them with the warmth of family and kin instead of the cold distance of a politician. And in the end the man always made the right decisions for the right problems. So he remained in his position while his enemies clenched their teeth behind their artificial, diplomatic smiles.

„Please, Avatar. Make yourself at home. No formalities. Lunch has been specially prepared for you.", the chief said.

„You are too genarous, Chief.", Nadira answered. „But I would prefer that Sifu Yuka instructs me in my task."

Said woman remained silent and stubournly stared forward. The Avatar could had sworn that the waterfall behind the chief's seat in the main hall, had twitched slightly. Then she spoke for the first time since she had picked them up at the shuttl'es landing zone.

„Nonsense, child.", she looked now at Nadira and gave her that unreal smile frome before. „My brother wishes to invite you. I humbly ask you to accept his offer. And besides, you must be hungry from your journey."

At her right ear, the Avatar could hear Takashi whisper:

„You never told me you were trained by the chief's sister personally."

„Because it is of no importance _who_ trained me.", she whispered back and shot her former master a look.

„You are too kind, Sifu, but that won't be necessary." And as if her body had formed an alliance with the elder woman, her stomach began to rumble audibly for everyone to hear, making her words hollow in their meaning. Her face immediatly turned into a very deep shade of pink when she heard Takashi chuckle in amusement next to her and the chief broke out into a rich and warm laughter. Only Sifu Yuka remained silent and turned to face the Avatar again.

„It has been decided then.", she anounced with a notable amount of snobbary. „But to respect your desire, Avatar, I suggest that we will talk about your task while we enjoy our meal."

* * *

And so it happened. They were lead to the great dining hall, where the chief also recieved state guests. Like the rest of the palace the dining hall was purely made of ice. Only the long but low dining table, the animal furs they sat on (much to Nadira's and Takashi's discomfort) and the electricity fed light sources were an exception. The light eminated from artisticly manufactured lanterns which were made of glass, partially painted in shades of yellow. They shone dimly and bathed the room in a warm and homely light. Not that any of the quaters felt physically cold. Though made of ice it was always warm on the inside. Nadira had it once explained to her; the same principle as building an iglo, they had told her. And than a long lecture about how the room was able to store warmth within itself, despite being made of ice and not to melt at the same time. Nadira remembered only distantly how the guide threw various scientific names, measurements and numbers at her and she didn't keep one bit straightly in her mind. Physics was never her favorite school subject after all, never been good at it either, and that will likely never change so soon.

Servants brought the various dishes and arranged them on the dining table:

First a plate of Pickled Fish was served along with a huge bowl of Tantacle Soup and Seaweed Noodles.

 _Appearantly the appetisers._

However the servants didn't wait until any of them had finished one of the first plates. Quickly they proceeded to arrange more huge bowls; one was filled with Sea Prune Stew and the other contained Five-Flavour-Soup. The mainly liquid dishes were soon followed by a plate, carrying a well roasted arcitic hen.

Nadira examined the food carefully. Half of it contained meat or fish or another sort of animal, which was tabu for her and Takashi.

 _They either still don't get the principle of vegetarianism or they just can't get rid of the meat._

But there was also as much vegetarian for them.

 _Well, not really..._ , she thought as she shot the Sea Prune Stew a disgusted look. The Avatar then leaned a bit closer to Takashi:

„Avoid the Sea Prune Stew.", she whispered her warning under her breath. She didn't mean to offend anyone, especially not Chief Ataneq who was trying to live up to the widely known Water Tribe hospitality, but the Sea Prune Stew was still not their best invention. So better not eat it at all, instead of eating and spitting it right back into the bowl.

„Why?", he whispered back.

„Bad time to explain. Just don't touch it, all right?", she mutterd as silently as she could. Both airbenders then started their meal with a slight bow of gratitude and filled themselves each an amount of the Seaweed Noodles and the Five-Flavour-Soup. They ate quietly until Nadira broke the silence.

„So, Sifu Yuka.", the Avatar began and it sounded sharper than she actually had intended. „Would you be so kind to explain the need of my presence?"

 _Shit! That sounded friendlier in my head._

Her former master glared at her with an undefinable expression. Slowly she chewed the last bit of her Tentacle Soup, while she lowered her chopstick holding hand to the bowl, and rested her eating utensiles on it.

„Of course, Avatar.", she responded with a steely voice. She shortly turned her head to look at her brother who gave her an appreciative nod.

„Recently there have been problems with the Spirit Oasis."

„Don't tell me that we need to apease the Moon and Ocean Spirit.", Nadira commented.

„No, nothing like that. The great spirits never sought any evil on us. But there are other spirits roaming around the spirit pond."

„And I assume those spirits don't want to play friends with the humans?"

Takashi swallowed a bit of Seaweed Noodles and looked at her with a weird mix of interest and scepticism.

„I'm afraid so." A reluctant nod from her former master.

„They attack benders who wish for spiritual contemplation in the holy Oasis without a notable reason. Your task, Avatar, is to investigate the incidents. Find out why the spirits are unsatisfied with us. You are the only one who can comune with them and cleanse them or destroy them if necessary."

„I see, I'll look into it. But I am certain this will be solved peacfully.",Nadira answered before her attention was turned to one of the servants who held a tablet with tea and sweets above his head while he shrieked frightendly. The tea can was shaking dangouresly while he tried to escape Sheyla's attention.

„Sheyla!", Nadira shouted at the tiger and the beast immeditaly stopped harrassing the scared servant. Said man put the tablet on the dining table and scuttled off quickly, while he muttered something that sounded like _I'm not getting paid enough for this!_.

Back to the original topic Yuka began to talk again: „It has been decided then?"

„I will set out to the Spirit Oasis immediatly, Sifu."

„You needn't hurry, Avatar. Rest before you go.", the Sifu said.

„It's allright, Sifu Yuka. The sooner we get this over with the better for the people." _And I can go home before anything goes sideways._

„No, Avatar. Listen to your sifu." It was Chief Ataneq who took the word.

„But I am really not tired at all."

„It is not that, Avatar. The Spirits only show themselves at night. If you will or not, you still have plenty of time before you can do anything.", the chief clarified.

Nadira furrowed her brows. As far as she knew it was night, in fact all the time or at least it looked so. But a look on her mobile clock told her that it was barely 3 pm in the afternoon actually.

 _Great_ , she thought while her discomfort grew. But brooding about it didn't do her any good. She had no other choice after all.

* * *

Time passed as slowly as a lion turtle slid through the ocean. It was almost unbearable and Nadira did all sorts of things possible to distract herself. She had been given one of the guest quarters on the upper level of the chief's palace. It was large, decorated with the same lanterns and furs as the ones in the dining hall. However there were also statues which depicted spirits and animals commonly seen in the region. One in particular cought her attention, probably bcause it was the largest one and because she recognized the spirit it depicted all too well. The statue was a young woman, dressed in fine long robes. Her hair was long and danced around her body, her gaze was warm and friendly. It was the Moon Spirit; most holy to all members of the Water Tribe and the source of power for every waterbender who ever lived and will live.

The sight of the figure awakned feelings of sadness and melancholy deep within her. Of course she was told the story of Princess Yue who bravly sacrificed her life in order to become the new Moon Spirit and save the Water Tribe from the Fire Nation's attack back in the Hundred Year War. But she also felt actual lament for the loss of the person herself, which were Avatar Aangs feelings as she later discovered.

Many people thought of the whole reincarnation process of the Avatar with sceptiscism. Partly because the idea of being many persons at once and yet a completly different person at the same time was admittedly a difficult idea to grasp. But many others also didn't give spirituality much importance in their lives anymore, not like in the old days. Although spirits weren't a rare sight since the opening of the portals by Avatar Korra. Perhaps it was that it became so entirely normal that no one paid that much attention anymore.

Anyhow, Nadira knew that all legends told about the Avatars were true, because she had all seen them through her spiritual self. All the experiences, fights, feelings, memories were conatined within her and after long sessions of meditating and connecting with her past lives she gained controled acces to those memories. She had seen, through Aang's eyes what had happened on that day, when the legend had been forged. She had seen the sorrowfull eyes of Sokka as his beloved made her decision. Pulling back from him determined and fearlessly giving the last light of hope that shone in her eyes against the blackness of the absent moon to her people. When Avatar Aang looked up to the shining moon after he had pushed back the troops of the Fire Nation in a wave of destruction as he entered the Avatar State in unison with the Ocean Spirit and Sokka's tears after the battle. And it always made her cry when all those emotions, the loss hit her like a furious wave hit a lonely shore.

Nadira wiped away her tears which were triggered by the intense memory.

She inspected her weapons one more time befor she pulled the coat over her head and attached the large fan and the glider to her back and both small silver fans at the sides of her belt. The Avatar gave her trusty tiger a sign that she may walk to the door. As she left she saw that Takashi was already waiting for her. With a smile she greeted her companion and he in return grinned back wickedly but also reassuringly. And without a single word spoken they headed for the Spirit Oasis as they were followed by Sheyla.

* * *

Nadira and Takashi waited long hours without anything happening. The Avatar sat crosslegged in front of the Spirit Pond, patiently waiting for any sign in silence while Takashi wandered restlessly from one end to another of the green little island.  
After a while he said impatiently: „You sure they meant this Spirit Oasis?"

„There _is_ only one Spirit Oasis, Takashi."

„Well, then maybe we scared the poor creatures off with our sheer presence."

Then suddenly Nadira twitched slightly.

„Be on your guard!", she hissed and before her companion could react an undefinable light attacked him. As it pinned him down Nadira could now identify the creature; a spirit wolf. It looked like an ordinary wolf, except for the ethereal transparent light its body consisted of and the strange markings on its back. Other than that it barked and bit at Takashi like a material wolf would do. With a stream of air Nadira made herself stand, taking the small silver fans from her side while she rushed to her companion who was struggling to keep the beast off of him. Before she arrived however the crature was dumped back by Sheyla who roared lowdly and fiercly at the spirit wolf. The Spirit growled at the tiger female and jumped to attack her instead. A firy fight of teeth and claws broke out in which the wolf decided to pass through Sheyla instead of bothering itself with her any longer. The tiger lady immediatly dropped, whincing in pain and agony.

„Sheyla!", Nadira cried desperatly and ran to her tiger instead. She dropped her fans into the grass as she sumoned water to her palm from the spirits pond. It was dangerous when spirits passed fully through a body of the material world. At worst one could die from the sheer force that eminated from the passing spirit. While she tried to examine her tiger she saw from the corner of her eye that the Spirit Wolf was preparing to jump at her now. Only in the last second she was pushed away by Takashi who made it to his feet again.

„But Sheyla..."

„Sheyla can wait. First we need to take care of this fellow." With a heavy, defeated sigh Nadira complied and pulled out her staff to fight now.

Takashi then stepped a bit closer to the beast that was growling at him now. His typical wicked grin spread on his face.

„You wann play _catch the stick_ , little guy? Allright then come and get this stick!", he yelled and pulled out his katana. A long, very sharp sword. It was deadly on the battlefield on its own but Takashi channeled his air through the finely crafted blade and made it even deadlier. He summoned a sharp wind to his back and with extraordinary speed he attacked the spirit wolf. The creature didn't realize what was happening until Takashi slid his sword through its body. Had it been materiel they would had had a cleanly cut in half wolf. But the creature wasn't material and so it regained its shape shortly after Takashi's hit. However the attack didn't went by without consequences. Nadira could see that the place where Takashi's blade slipped through was slightly more transparent than the rest of its body. So Nadira saw the opportunity and prepared for an attack herself now. The spirit wolf was distracted by Takashi who laughingly once again cut throgh the same spot, weakening it even further. The Spirit wolf of course was not pleased by the successfull attacks of the airbender.

Nadira now channeled the air through her staff. Smoothly she built the power, turning n a circle and unleashing it with a looping jump. The wolf immediatly dissolved entirly and gave the airbenders time to think.  
„This is not right.",Nadira said.

„Oh really? Did you figure that out on your own?", Takashi commented sarcastically.

„I am not refering to the attack itself, smart ass!", she hissed back. „I mean the circumstances. Hostile sirits normally do not dare to attack near the Spirit Pond. It's too close to the Moon and Ocean Spirit."

„Are you saying that they are being manipulated?", he asked. Nadira nodded.

„Yes, that's what I'm saying. They are also unusually strong. Something or someone is ordering them to attack and is also making them stronger."

„Well, we'll have enough time to figure that out, There are more on the run."

Nadira tuned around and faced a whole pack of angry spirit wolves. „We will not kill them.",she then whispered to Takashi.

„What?", he said.

„I will try to cleanse them. You need to help me keeping them as close as possible to eachother."

„You think they are corrupted?"

Only a nod. „If we help them than we might find out who's really behind the attacks.", she said calmly.

Nadira was certain of her theory. Spirit Wolves normally didn't pass into the material world at all, let alone attack peacfully meditating people. Also their light radiated evily dancing shadows. And as they were so many, the Avatar concludet that they had been corrupted on purpose. At least this fact shortened the list of suspects: only very powerful and experienced waterbenders were capable of such a thing.

„Here they come!", Takashi said and were immediatly aproached by the pack. Both airbenders commanded currents of air under their feet. With increased force they jumped away from one another, dividing the pack. If Nadira's plan was to be succesfull then they had to be fast.

The first spirits reached her. She avoided their bites by circling around them dancing through their dark aura. Some of them converted themselves into flying lights to transport themselves to her back. As she dodged the other wolves the ones at her back jumped in full force into her direction and passed through her body, like it was done to Sheyla. Nadira sucked in her breath. In shattering pain she fell to her knees and panted heavily. Distantly she could hear Takashi shout her name but the pain numbed her too much to her environment. Only in the last second she noticed that several wolves were now attacking her again. With another powerfull current of wind she jumped high into the air. She landed softly on the green island and as the wolves attacked her again from every direction she bumped her fists into eachother and unleashed a dome of furious wind, pushing the attackers away into every direction.

Takashi on the other side flowed gracfully through the beasts as he placed a few controlled strikes to only weaken the spirits. One after another dropped after a precise cut from the wind sword. Without further thinking Nadira decided that this was an opening.

„Takashi, now!", she shouted. While he build the energy into his sword through circular movements , Nadira now returned her glider staff to her back and pulled the big fan out instead. In fast, fluent movment she spread her weapon and both arbenders unleashed powerful and violent wind currents on their attackers.

Takashi's wind looked like an air extension of his sword. If someone got into its way, they would die immediatly, for the wind was not only pushing but also as sharp as a razor. The attack was effecient. It pushed the spirits back while it weakned them and prevented fast recovery as well.

Nadira's attack however was sheer force. It was violent and destructive and technically tore the spirits away.

The creatures were now crouded next to eachother. She couldn't ask for a better opening.

„Takashi, quick!"

The airbender understood wothout further explanations and pulled out two scrolls. He crossed them over one another while he sat down crosslegged as he established a spiritual connection. The scrolls began to glow in golden light. The light danced around the corrupted spirits and slowly but steadily formed a glittering barrier around them.

The first ones to recover from the airbenders' simultanious attack furiosly jumped towards the barrier and were violently smacked back by its presence.

Satisfied with the result Nadira positioned herself before the barrier. She commanded two streams of water from the Spirit Pond. Fluently she spread her arms and the water moved around the barrier in a circle. She closed them again and the water began to move in a spiral around the barrier rising until it reached the peek of it. Nadira now entered the Avatar-State. She let Avatar Korra's memories in particular flow through her mind. The visions of the waterbender made her body move on its own, without Nadira's actual conciousness. In that moment she was fully Avatar Korra, moving in a way that felt like her usual pattern.

The Avatar stretched her arms to the front and let her body shift with them. Then she pulled them back again and also took a step back at the same time, only to stand straightly in front of the barrier again. Her arms wandered first up and then lowered in front of her torso again, so that her fingertips were facing eachother. Following her movement the water slowly changed from its usual blue liquid state into a golden spririt light. It spread and covered the barrier completly for a shorrt time, befor it dissolved and exploded into a million particles, letting the water of the Spirit Pond glitter endlessly.

Nadira bowed as the spirits were cleansed.

„Go in peace.", she said, when she saw that the spirits no longer wished to stay and dissolved as they crossed the border between the spirit and the material world.

She exhaled heavily, having no chance to ask the spirits who had corrupted them. Instantly Sheyla returned to her mind when she heard the low growl of the tiger. She turned around and furrowed her brows in confusion as she looked into the the cold expressionless face of her former sifu.

Yuka aproached her with slow, graceful steps. With every inch she passed she clapped her hands.

„Well done, my dear student. As expected from the mighty Avatar.", she said in a dry, mocking tone.

Behind her a high number of guards enclosed around them.

„What's the meaning of this?", she asked.

„Nadira...", Takashi whispered. She turned into his direction to see more guards coming down from the ice walls around the Spirit Oasis.

The Avatar turned back to the elder woman, staring at her in shock. Her mouth opened a bit as a dreadfull realization took over.

Sifu Yuka smiled a cruel, cold smile. „I give you three guesses.", she said softly.


	2. Chapter 2: The woman in the iceberg

_Hello dear followers and welcome back to the second chapter of 'Just in Time'. At this point I want to thank all the readers, who added this story to their favoites and follows. I recieved so little comments on this (compared to my other story), I almost began to think it is not good enough, but you guys prove me wong whenever I recieve a new notification of a new follower. And I remember that I write this mostly for fun, so I guarantee that the story will continue with or without the comments. :)_

 **Chapter 2: The woman in the iceberg**

Nadira and Takashi slowly stepped away from Yuka's army of guards until they stood back to back. The Avatar looked around and could unhardly see, that they were completly surrounded by the dark blue figures. She fixed her eyes on her former sifu again.

„I knew this was a bad idea.", she said.

„Okay, you were right. I got that! Any ideas how we will get out of here?", Takashi asked in response. But Nadira wasn't speaking to him. Her eyes hadn't moved one bit away from Yuka.

„But why, Sifu? I never would have thought you would..."

„Oh please, Nadira. Don't tell me you hadn't any idea all the time.", Yuka cut her dryly.

The young woman closed her eyes for one moment. She had felt it all the time. The behaviour of the Sifu, all the signs she read in them were almost screaming to her instincts not to trust. To do something to get away before this sticky situation could happen. But that was also the point. It was a mere feeling, no concrete evidence. What would she had had told the chief? That she suspected Yuka was scheaming something, only judging from her usual distant behaviour? It was only thing she would had acomplished would had been the complete destruction of Air Nomad and Water Tribe relations.

After Nadira finished her thought, Yuka began to speak again.  
„Oh you poor little girl. How naive you are." The elder woman stepped closer again. With gentle cruelness she stroked the face of her former apperantice.

„Tell me, Nadira, what do you think your role is in this harsh world of ours?", Yuka asked but didn't let the younger woman reply. Quickly she proceeded.

„Do you think yourself useful? Is there a meaning to your existence? What have you done for the benefit of the world?"

Instinctivly Nadira twitched. Sweat was starting to break out of her body. She gulped heavily and noticed only then how dry her throat had become. Her eyes widened anxiously when she considered Yuka's questions in her mind.  
During her cycle nothing meaningful had happened, not even in the slightest. There weren't any crisises that needed her immediate and undivided attention. No tyrant with aspirations for godhood who aimed to take over the world, no spiritual inbalances that threatened to destroy the essence of the world itself and no revolutionist undrground organizations who tried to crush the system.

Until now.

Yuka slowly moved her hand away. „No answer is also an answer.", she said. „And you are correct, little one. You are nothing. You mean nothing. There is no point for your existence. The world doesn't need you, Avatar."

„You traitor!", Nadira shouted. Rage had taken over shock. With heated determination she broke the paralysis. Swiftly she spread out her fan again. In a powerful swing she summoned a crushing wind that blew Yuka's guards away. They landed uncontrollably scattered across the Spirit Oasis, obviously not expecting her bending to be so violent.

Only Yuka remained focused. Forseeing the move of her former apprantice she quickly summoned waves of water to her feet. The streams entwined around her ankles and hardned the next moment into unshatterable, thick ice as the strike washed over her. The ice stabilized her stance and protected her from being blown away like her petty guards.

Nadira inhaled deeply, took a step backwards and lashed forward again, releasing a flash of fire directly at he master.

Yuka, however was surprisngly agile for her age. She jumped away fast and rolled to the side gracefully before she came to stand again.

„If you think I am going to let you kill me so easily then you were gravely mistaken!", Nadira shouted again and unleashed several fireballs at the elder woman. Each of them she dodged with terryfying speed. Yuka summoned another two currents from the Spirit Pond.. She let them flow around her body only to let these two entwine again and sent them in a heartbeat into Nadira's direction, as they hardened and took on the form of a speer.

The Avatar, however, reacted immediatly, catching the speer halfway, liquified it, only to freez into ice once more and send it right back as countless little, ice needles.

The needles flew until they were stopped by the elder waterbender. But as she tried to redirect them, Nadira could see that her eyefocus flashed to the left hand side.

Like a whirlwind Takashi appeard behind her. With a controlled strike he tried to pierce right through her heart, but failed as Yuka rolled to the right hand side immediatly and hit him hard with a wave of ice and water. Takashi was cleanly knocked out, as Yuka continued to dodge Nadira's fire attacks. Very quickly she came closer. Before she could touch her Nadira escaped in a swirling movement and tried to hit her with an air strike. Yuka saw the airfront aproaching her and simply backflipped over the attack and landed right in front of the young Avatar.

The next moment Nadira felt a wet. cold grasp around her waist. Under Yuka's command the water waved her through the air, making her lose orientation quickly and before she realized it she found herself slammed against the icewall, only to be hardly thrown on the green grass of the Spirit Oasis. The young Avatar hissed a silent curse before she coughed blood onto the ground. She struggled to stand up but the pain pulled her down without compromise. Her whole body hurt and she was pretty sure she broke a few bones. From the ground she could see the feet of Yuka coming closer to her. Nadira tried to look up, agressivly ignoring the pain that lashed through her with every movement she dared to make.

„Kill you?", she heard Yuka chuckle coldly. „And what good would that do me? If I kill you now, you simply would be reborn and we can start this whole procedure anew."

„You-...Damn it!"

It wasn't simply Yuka's attack that weakened her. The attack of the spirits already had worn her out significantly.

Tearing pain washed over her again, keeping her whincing in its unbreakable grasp.

 _She wants to stop the Avatar cycle!_

Driven by this though Nadira forced herself up and ignored the pain as best as she could until she simply couldn't move. Slowly she sank to the ground again, as if someone else was pulling the strings of her muscles.

 _Of course she's a bloodbender!_

Firmly the young Avatar was pushed to the ground. Suddenly water floated in front of her eyes and sank down to her hands, freezed them while she couldn't do anything to defend herself. Another cold wrapped itself around a body part. She couldn't move to turn around and see but she felt exactly that also her feet were freezed to the ground.

Nadira now looked up to her master and tried to find any clue to Yuka's next step. The older woman just looked at her coldly in response. Quietly she let a stream of water swirl around her right arm and hand. It formed a very pointy and sharp looking sword around the limb, while Yuka aproached her.

„And now, Avatar, it is time for you to dissappear."

 _I thought you didn't want to kill me_ , Nadira thought bitterly before she reflexivly closed her eyes, awaiting the impact. But the contact with the sharp ice never came. Instead she felt warm liquid splash over her face. She opened her eyes and regretted it instantly. On its own her mouth fell open and her eyes widened with horror. A cry of terror that never was to be heard.

In front of her she stared into Takashi's face. His eyelids were pressed together in agony. Blood streamed from his mouth. Yuka's ice blade pierced right through his abdomen, causing more blood to pour out from his damaged body.

Swiftly Yuka pulled out the blade, leaving him to sink to his knees like a lifless sack. The Sifu looked surprised herself for a change. Clearly she didn't expect this outcome either.

„Ta-Ka-Shi...", Nadira muttered unbelievingly. The young man coughed, letting more blood come from his mouth. The Avatar felt the need to take him, help him, carry him to where he would recieve aid. But she couldn't move. The ice still held her stubournly in her place and she was to weak and hurt too much to remove it. So she just had to watch.

„Na...dira...", he pressed through his lips.

„No! Don't speak! We'll get you to safety, Takashi. But , please, don't wear yourself out! Please don't die!", she cried. Tears streamed down her face now.

And as if death wasn't pulling at his soul, Takashi smiled. Not his usual mocking or witty grin. It was a sencere smile of happiness.

„Heh! Never thought... I would see the day... you would cry for me...", he said, before another cough shook his body and forced him to support himself on his arms. Immediatly the smile returned to his face. Shakingly he looked into her eyes. The bright sparkle of life almost gone, a faint whisper in his clear crystals.

„Listen...", he pressed again.

„No! You listen, Takashi! Don't die on me now!", she screamed in denial.

„It's too late, Nadira-chan...My time...is over. But...before I...go,...I just...wanted you...to know...that I don't regret this. I am...happy...that ...I will have given...my life...for you. Because..." Another violant cough through his chest, forcing him to bow deeper towards the ground.

I love you."

Takashi exhaled his last breath and fell entirely lifeless on the ground before Nadira. Through her tears she could see his still smiling face. The light of life was now entirely gone from his slightly opened eyes.

Not accepting the reality of what she just witnessed, Nadira held her breath, before the loss came in as a crushing pain and made its way through her throat as a shattering cry of despair.

„A pitty. But what can I say? Not my fault that he jumped in front of you like an idiot.", Yuka commented cold heartedly.

„You monster...", Nadira sobbed in spite.

„See? That's why you are so useless. You can't comprehend the necessaties of certain sacrifices. But once I eliminate you the world will be free of the Avatar's primitive restrictions."

„If the price for your freedom is blood, than you'll stand alone with your ideals.", Nadira spat now.

„Oh quite the contrary. I'm not alone in this."

The pinned down Avatar looked at her unbelievingly. Yuka then grinned in a horrible grimace.

„Once you are gone humanity will achive true greatness. No rules to hold us back. No ridiciulous respect towards spirits to shackle us. We will be the masters of our world as it should be. And now it's time for you to get out of the way!"

Yuka swung the ice blade again and aimed at Nadira. But before she could hit the young woman a powerful burst of wind blew the waterbender against the next icewall.

An outside viewer would had seen the glowing of the eyes and the same light eminating from Nadira's tattoos on her arms. She entered the Avatar State.

But the young woman didn't precieve it in such clarity. The sensation was dim. She wasn't really in control anymore. It felt more like she was watching from a distance through thick fogg how her body moved on its own. Her sight was reduced to a tunnel vision that fixed only on the murderer of her companion.

With unhuman speed she jumped into the air, only to slam her whole body weight onto the ground again. The ground cracked and crumbeled beneath her. Various stone blocks rose into the air. Under her command they flew straight at her former master. Yuka managed to dodge most of them until the last one finally hit her hard into the stomach and knocked her into the water. But she didn't stay there for long. In the same heartbeat she rose up in an impressive fountain.

Yuka directed the water beneath her into Nadiras way. Most of it carried the waterbender through the air, but four currents surrounded her as ice speers as she aproached the Avatar. However, before she reached her target, Nadira flashed away in an instant.

Yuka landed on the spot lightly, letting the water and ice drop to the ground around her. While she turned around to search for the young Avatar, Nadira reappeared behind her, slamming her fist into her master's stomach and crushing her to the ground until the spot underneath gave in with loud cracks.

Yuka spat blood while she stared at her former apperantice in pain and it made Nadira feel frighteningly satisfied. The only thing on her mind was making Yuka pay. Through her tunnel vision she focused on the left side of her former master's chest. Sparks of lightning, paired with a mercilessly sharp blade of air formed around her right palm. Only distantly the philosophy of her people spoke to her, it desperatly cried that killing was wrong, no matter what. But the fogg of pain and anger and the flowing power were stronger.

Only one precise strike and this would end and before she could realize her thought a wave of water that came from behind her dumped her away. Nadira fell hard on the ground but before she could stand up two other waves swirled around both of her wrists and held them tightly until they both hardned to ice. Immediatly another wave aproached her and wrapped itself around her lower body. The still reasonable part of her mind concluded that there were others; _the guards._

Desperatly she struggeled to get free. But the loss of her companion didn't let her think clearly, didn't let her take in her surrounding, only made her see the traitor and murderer.

Agressivally she spat fire into every direction. She turned and winded in the cold grasp of ice but everytime she freed a part of herself a new wave rolled in and immobolized her again. Ultimately it lead to the pile of ice holding her in place getting higher as she struggeled to escape.

As if someone had put cotton wool into her ears she faintly heard voicees talk. The familliar and now despised voice of Sifu Yuka and various others she didn't recognize.

„Are you all right, ma'am?", one voice asked.

„Yes, I'll live. Are the seals in place?", the muffeled voice of the Sifu said.

„Yes, ma'am!", another voice replied.

„Good.", Yuka spat and reappeared into Nadira's vision. Rage once again took command over the mourning Avatar. Fire streamed from her mouth to the direction of her former sifu. It was put out by a wave of water that splashed on her face. It hardened around her chest and neck, before it could drop to the ground.

Then the muffeled voice of Yuka rang out again:

„The Avatar Cycle ends here!"

It was the last thing that Nadira heard before cold darkness overhelmed her and remained.

* * *

 **Year 2185**

* * *

Shepard stormed from the decontamination chamber straight to the elevator and to her cabin. Questions from her crew she had ignored determinedly. The commander locked the door and turned to the AI's communication spot.

„EDI! I don't want anyone to disturb me for the next 3 or 4 hours. Is that clear?", she said and backed away from her own anger that clearly steamed out of her.

„As you wish, Shepard.", EDI replied steely and her blue avatar dissappeard instantly.

Tired and defeated she sank to the ground and the next moment she found herself burrying her face into her knees and crying like a small child.

The whole day was a total kick into the gut. It had started off quite harmless. On the day before she had aquired the tank with the cloned krogan who now called himself Grunt. The next morning after breakfast (as far as it could be called a morning when you are on a ship somewhere in the ass end of space) she had gone to the galaxy map as usual to plan the route for the day. She had had some unfinished buisness on Omega and the Citadel and also had wanted to scan a few promising looking planets for resources. But as she had wanted to activate the Galaxy Map, the access was denied. Instead Joker spoke to her. The pilot had told her through the comm that The Illusive Man a.k.a. her new boss had had something of priority to discuss with her and before she knew it she had been sent off to Horizon with some prototypical Anti-Seeker chemistry spread on her armour of which she hadn't even known if it would had worked or not. Then she had investigated and fought off those disgusting creatures called Collectors. It was all fine, nothing she hadn't done before and with Garrus and Miranda at her back she hadn't had any reason to worry. Things only had gone to hell when she finally had managed to get the Collector Ship out of the colony.

Then Kaidan suddenly had stepped into the scene. The first moment she hadn't seen the anger in his amber eyes. What Shepard saw was the man she loved, the one she had originally decided to spend her life with. So she just had gone over to him, wrapped her arms around him, just happy to have her Kaidan back. He had returned the gesture first but then had pushed her away, almost yelled at her while he accused her of being a traitor to her people and to him. She had held tight on herself, forcing herself not to cry or yell back, tried to explain the situation, but he hadn't listened or let himself be convinced. He had rejected her with everything that he was as he had only seen a brainwashed Cerberus agent who used to be the honorable Commander Shepard.

Still sobbing heavily she wiped away her tears, not giving a damn if it ruined her make-up.

 _I should've stayed dead!_ , she thought bitterly. At least that way she would had been the Commander who heroically protected her crew even to the point of sacrificing herself. Now she was brought back, working for Cerberus, a terrorist underground organization of which she shut down various facilities, in which monstrous experiments took place, while she was still after Saren. And for that she had lost the love of her life.

Thinking about the loss of Kaidan however triggered other memories, memories she actually had burried long ago.

In her mind she went back to her first day as a marine. Growing up as a spacer kid she already was familliar with the military and its doctrine. She had picked up a lot from her parents and the people of the stations she had gone to throughout her childhood. Thus it was no surprise that she had followed into her parents footsteps. The fact that she had biotic abilities made her an even more valuable addition to the Alliance.

From day one she had given only her very best at her training. At the end she had been one of the best vanguards the Alliance had ever seen and her first assignment came quickly.

A young colony founded on Akuze had stopped reporting back. A task group under her command had been sent to investigate. The young and unexperienced soldier she had been, she had had no idea what awaited her. Full of enthusiasm she lead her team to the settlements and that had been when the disaster had striked. The thresher maw literally had swallowed half of her team alive at the first attack and then it had hunted them down one after another. It wasn't hard for the monster to get almost all of them. The soldiers didn't know the terrain and couldn't predict where the worm would come up next. Rifles and shotguns were useless against it.

During the mission Shepard had lost contact with the rest of her team. The only thing she had heard from them were their cries of death as they ended up as a meal for the thresher maw. In the end she hadn't known how she had gotten out of it alive. Only numbly she remembered how she had set off the distress call and just hid and prayed to God that the thing wouldn't get her next. When the Alliance had picked her up they called her an exceptional talent, slapped medals on her chest and recomended her to the N7 programm. They didn't see the stress, the sadness, the trauma and especially completly forgot about those who weren't as lucky.

The line on her right cheek wasn't the only scar she carried along from that agonizing experience. Her very soul was a crumbling mess of guilt and responsability.

After her fateful first mission she made an oath to herself and God:

Never again should a soldier under her command die and be left behind. As a symbol for the change she cut her once long hair short. Under her new resolution she hunted down Saren and failed. Chief Williams was the first to fall. Never could Shepard forgive herself for that.

After Saren the majority of her fromer crew was killed by the Collector attack and now she lost Kaidan.

 _What good am I if I cannot even live up to my own promises?_

To the people she was Commander Shepard, the Hero of the Citadel and she kept the image up for her crew, for their morale she didn't let them sense any doubt in her. But the reality looked differently. She was a messed up vesself of insecurity and regret.

By now her tears dried out. She still felt like hell but she reached the point where she simply couldn't cry anymore. Only with great effort she lifed herself up and made her way to the bathroom. Shepard looked into the mirrior and twitched at the sight of herself. Her eye make-up consisted of two irregular circles of eyeliner. She washed her face then and renewed the make-up quickly. When she walked out she saw EDI's blue avatar awaiting her.

„Commander."

„I thought I told you to be left alone."

„Apologies, Commander. I did not meant to cause you any discomfort."

Shepard sighed.

„Allright, let's get this over with. What is it, EDI?"

„The Illusive Man wishes to speak to you in the debriefing room."

„Couldn't wait for the report until tomorrow, I take it."

„He has indeed requested feedback on your last assignment. But the named subject to his message indicated other matters he intended to talk to you about."

„Thank you, EDI. I will be there in a few moments."

„Logging you out, Shepard."

* * *

In a few minutes Shepard took off her armour and slipped into the white and black shirt and trousers Cerberus had provided her with. Not wasting any more time she headed to the debriefing room. Once she entered, the huge table standing in the middle of the chamber lowerd itself, revieling a vid comm plattform. The device scanned her and produced a holographic image for The Illusive Man.

His voice rang out immediatly, while his own holographic image appeared before her.

„Shepard. Good work on Horizon. The Collectors now will think twice before they attack another colony."

„It's not a victory. We interrupted the Collectors but they still abducted half of the colony.", she replied dryly.

„That's better than an entire colony, and more than we acomplished since the abductions began."

He paused briefly before he proceeded.

„The Collectors will be more careful now, but I think we can find another way to lure them in."

„I wondered if you had something to do with that attack. Kaidan said the Alliance got a tip about me and Cerberus."

He nipped at his cigarette and released the fume out of his mouth and nostriles before he answerd.

„I might have released a few carefully disguised rumors that you are alive and working for Cerberus."

„I see. What were you trying to prove?"

„I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain. It was a risk, but I couldn't wait for them to just take another colony. You understand."

She still couldn't quite wrap her head around that man. His very presence was irritating her. Age was a dominant feature of his appearance, but he was still oddly handsome. But then there was his voice that reminded her of her grandfather reading her a good-night-story, whom she had visited as a child a few times. It didn't fit him at all.

„We have to make sure they don't abduct anyone else.", Shepard said.

„I want the Collectors stopped for that very reason. That's why we are doing this, Shepard. I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega-4-Relay. We have to hit them where they live."

He shifted slightly in his seat while he spoke.

„Your team will need to be strong...as will their resolve. There is no looking back. The same goes for you. Can I assume you put your past relationships behind you?"

Now that one was personal and certainly not a topic she wanted to discuss right now.

„None of your damned buisness!", she snapped at him. To her surprise The Illusive Man reamined calm and just pushed his cigarette into the ashtray next to him.

„If it affects the mission, better you should leave it behind. Shepard. Once we find a way through the Omega-4-Relay to the Collector homeworld...there is no guarantee you will return. To have any hope of surviving, you and your entire team must be fully committed to this."

„Let me worry about them. You find us a way to the Collector homeworld."

 _Damn straight! And I will show you that a well bonded team will beat all the odds._ , she thought while she remembered her oath.

„I just want to be up front about your odds. You'll need everyone at their best. I've forwarded four more dossiers. One of them is a rather special one."

Shepard furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms. A gesture she did whenever she sensed that something was terribly out of order.

„Oh?"

„This one particular dossier has no guarantee that you will aquire a new crew member, though it may be possible."

He lit another cigarette.

„One way or another, however, it will be a valuable war asset that can give us an advantage against the Collectors or maybe the Reapers themselves."

He paused and puffed a particularly big cloud of nikotine and what other things were mixed up in his cigarette. Shepard didn't hestitate to ask:

„So? Where's the catch?"

„To aquire this asset you'll have to go to Earth."

„What?", she exclaimed.

„To the North Pole, more precisely.", he said and ignored Shepard's disbelief.

„Are you insane? To the deepest center of Alliance Space? They will throw me into jail as as soon as we touch the Sol Relay!", she almost yelled at him, while pointing out her concern.

„It has been taken care of.", he replied coldly.

„But-"

„Goodbye, Shepard."

Without awaiting her response he closed the comm channel. Immediatly his holo image disappeard and Shepard found herself in the sterile lit debriefing romm once more. The commander sighed heavily and walked out of the chamber.

This whole mission just got a lot more complicated.

* * *

Almost a full week passed after the events of Horizon and the following conversation with The Illusive Man. Commander Shepard had deliberatly ignored the ominous forth dossier and instead made her way to Heastrom when she read that Tali had been chosen as a crew member, despite The Illusive Man's first claims about her former team.  
And it was surprisingly easy – apart from the fact that the sun alone immediatly tried too kill her as soon as she touched the ground and the swarm of geth greeting her with the familiar bullet rain – but other than that Tali let herself be persuaded to work on a Cerberus ship almost too quickly.

Now Sheperd stood next too Joker in the cockpit, in full armour and painfully on edge. As if to underline her concern the ship vibrated softly while the Mass Effect transported them to the Sol Relay.

„Hitting the Sol System in thirty seconds, Commander.", Joker anounced and cocked his head to the side where she was standing cross armed. The pilot returned his attention to the aerogel screens and continued to tip commands into them.

„But seriously, Earth? Maybe The Illusive Man should check his brain for dementia.", Joker commented sharply.

„Yeah. I want to see how we are going to avoid to be noticed.", Shepard replied.

„Well, the stealth systems are on and-"

EDI's eyeball popped suddenly up.

„The Illusive Man provided the Normandy with alternative incription codes that can be transmitted instead of the original code. The ship will not be noticed as Cerberus.", the AI explained.

„Yeah, thanks. I was getting to that point!", Joker hissed.

That's all good and all, but anyone who can get close enough will see us and inevitably the Cerberus insignia on the ship's hull.", Shepard said now.

„Guess we will find out now.", Joker said and meant by it that they finally reached the Sol System. From the cockpit they could see countless Alliance vessels patroling the system. Joker tried to maneouver the ship carefully and sneakily. Circling around planets to sink underneath them and get to the backside of another moon or planet. But this didn't work for long. Eventually they had to break right through the patrol. As the Normandy floated gracefully towards Earth Shepard and Joker noticed with disbelief how various patrol vessels just ignored them and let them pass.

„What the hell is the meaning of this?", Shepard muttered.

„Perhaps the boss payed them a good round of cake and ice cream?", Joker offered snickering.

„Or he got them all assassinated."

And as if to prove the commander wrong one of the vessels began to aproach them, trying to cut the way. At the same time the comm hissed to life.

„Cerberus! This is Captain Bartosz Bilievski. You have one chance to turn around now or-" They never knew what the threat of the Alliance Captain was excactly. The connection was interrupted when another Cerberus vessel suddenly jumped between the Normandy SR-2 and the Alliance vessel and was astonishingly accompanied by an... _Alliance Fighter?_

Both ships now fired at Captain Bilievski's ship, tearing down its kinetic barriers. Other Alliance vessels took notice of the turmoil and headed to the attacked ship. But not all were helping. Still not processing the view, Shepard simply stared out of the window while she observed how Alliance ships attacked other Alliance ships and how more Cerberus vessels appeared from nowhere as a response.

„Huh. A distraction. Old but gold I would say.", Joker commented now. Shepard however only frowned. So his big plan was a cover provided by cheap traitors and the death of innocent, fellow soldiers?

Her thoughts stopped at the last half sentence. She was Cerberus herself and technically working against the Alliance. What was she other than those distractors than a traitor herself. _Just like Kaidan said._

She brushed the thought away, bitterly and just said.

„Bring us in."

„Aye aye, Commander." Joker tipped a complex composition of buttons and commands befor he activated the Normandy's crew comm channel.

„Bracing for evasive maneouvers!" And the pilot meant what he said. The Normandy dove spectaculary underneath the ship which contacted them first. Countless fighters appeard before them and Joker jsut let the ship dance around, above or underneath them. Switching directions aprubtly every now and then to confuse fighters that were behind them, letting them crash into other fighters or leading them into the direction of an allied ship and letting it ocupy themselves with it.

After a bumpy ride full of cruves, turns and loopings, they finally left the spontanious battle behind them.

Earth was now getting increasingly bigger and bigger until Joker finaly anounced that they were entering the atmosphere. He then turned around to the commander.

„Welcome home, Shepard.", he said. The commander didn't reply to that. Earth wasn't exactly home to her. She set foot on the planet only about twice in her life. First time was when she enlisted. She had to report in at the Alliance Head Quarters in Vancouver and from there she spent two years of training. Second time was after Akuze and those events she didn't want to remember again.

So she just nodded.

„Set course to the North Pole. We'll be landing there."

„From every damned place on Earth it had to be that ass end of nowhere?", Joker exclaimed.

„I am sceptical myself. Let's just get in, grab whatever there is and get out before anyone changes their minds.", she answered.

„It is not recommendable to land the Normandy at the North Pole, Commander.",EDI suddenly interfered. Shepard and Joker swung their heads to the blue avatar of the AI. As if she understood the unspoken question she proceeded.

„It has to be considered that there is no solid land mass at the North Pole. Landing only on the ice would likely prove to be fatal. Due to climatic changes it is not thick enough to uphold a whole space ship. Keeping the Normandy in the sky while sending out a significantly smaller and lighter shuttle is preferable."

„I see. Thank you EDI.", Shepard replied before she looked at her pilot. „Joker, I need you to stay in the atmosphere, while I go out."

„But wouldn't they be able to catch us easily that way?", Joker asked.

„Right now they are all busy with the attack. As I understand we have currently no presuers and as long as you keep the stealth system running they won't pick us up. Besides it shouldn't take too long if I can trust what the dossier says."

In fact the dossier only described some sort of dig site. Cerberus had for an unknown reason sent a small team of scientists to the North Pole. The files indicated that through a well connected spy network information was obtained, that hinted to an unknown energy source. Why or what it was, was not specified or perhaps at this point they simply didn't know. But Cerberus would never admit that, of course. And since it was at the North Pole of Earht, it was asumed that no hostiles were to be expected.

Shepard headed out of the cockpit and walked straight to her yoeman Kelly Chambers. The red haired woman greeted the commander as usual, with a sincere wide smile.

„Good day, Commander. Is there something I can do for you?"

„Tell Garrus and Tali to suit up and meet me at the shuttlebay. We almost have reached our destination."

„Of course, Commander."

* * *

It took aproximatly twenty more minutes until the Normandy finally hovered over the freezing cold of the North Pole.

Tali and Garrus stood at time in the middle of the shuttlebay when Shepard finally went down, all ready and armed and prepared for everything. Then they boarded a shuttle and the smaller craft took them down to the thick blocks of ice, that formed the walking ground of the place.

Significant danger or hostiles were unlikely to occur. But Shepard didn't know what to expect and she wasn't entirely sure that Alliance Soldiers would not come after her, after all. However Tali and Garrus had been with her since she started her hunt for Saren, and they continued to stand by her side without questioning, even now, when she worked for Cerberus.

They were skilled fighters and her best friends, whom she could always trust. Whatever would happen down there, she was at least certain that Tali and Garrus would pull her out of it.

The shuttle landed smoothly on a particularly broad and thick part of the polar ice. The three companions jumped out of the craft and onto the ground. A quick look on her omnitool revealed that it was freezing cold: -50°C, but Shepard and her friends merely felt it. Their armours and envirosuites provided a constant temperature comfortable to their average body heats.

„So this...is Earth?", Tali asked dubiously as she took in her environment, only seeing snow, ice, larger ice blocks, water and more ice and piles of snow. The soberness in her voice was not to be overheared. „I always imagined it more...colourful. And some vids I watched also showed it...differently."

Shepard chuckled at that.

„It's only the North Pole. The next civilized settlment is down south across the sea. And the vids didn't lie. There are a lot of different climate zones. We just happened to be landing on the cold one."

„Right. Perhaps we can visit those other, _warmer_ places the next time we come to Earth? Take some shore leave at a nice hotel by the sea? And maybe when we are not Cerberus?"

This was Garrus who intervened.

„I'll take a note to that.", Shepard answered.

„Seriously, Shepard. How come you always dragg me out to the cold places, with raging blizzards and tons over tons of snow? I thought I made myself clear when you pulled me out to Noveria.", he said now.

„Remind me. I seem to forget a few things of the time before I died."

„Come on. Now you just teasing me."

„Cheer up, Garrus. I know you are used to the warmth of Palaven and the controlled environments of space stations but you can take this bit of snow and ice.", Shepard laughed now.

„Yes, yes. I get it. Just lead the way, Commander. I will silently and obediently follow you.", Garrus replied sharply but couldn't quite hide the amusement in his subvocaled tone.

Coordinates and a map of the area had been uploaded to her omnitool and the Commander took a look on them now. Keeping the orange light of the omnitool alive all the time, she followed the directions provided to her.

After minutes of walking and helping Garrus up to his feet, after he slipped away once, Shepard finally came to halt, along with her breath.

With wide eyes she observed the image spreading in front of her. The Commander and her small team stood at the edge of a a large valley. However what astonished Shepard was the fact that the edge was a perfectly shaped, even circle. _As if someone modelled it on purpose._

In the valley itself Shepard saw crumbling masses of ice, that almost looked like destroyed buildings and even the remains of metal and glass. _Sky scrapers?_

Between the crumbling masses a perefct network of water canels lead throughout the valley, not unlike those known from Venice. It looked obviously like an abandoned city. Shepard could easily imagine the beauty of the place, before whatever happened to it, that lead to its destruction.

„Spirits, Shepard. Don't tell me people actually lived here.", Garrus said horrified.

„It would explain the straightness of the place.", she replied dryly and shrugged. It wasn't a gesture of indifference, but more of genuinely lacking knowledge.

„Either way we need to get down there. Our destination is set somewhere in this...city."

So the squad looked for a way down, until Tali waved them to her.

„I think this may be a good path.", the quarian said. Shepard examined the edge of the valley that was not quite so steep as the rest of the wall. For lack of a better solution the Commander only nodded and cautiously lead the way down to the city.

Once they arrived, Shepard returned her attention to her omnitool. She followed the given route, while examining the destroyed ice buildings around her, falling apart around the still intact water streets.

They came across an ice statue, depicting a young woman. She had long hair, dancing around her lithe body. The expression of her face was warm, her arms open widely and welcoming and Shepard had the feeling the purpose of the figure was more than just for asthetics. The Commander stood for a moment in front of the sculpture that looked so horribly violated and out of place among the ice ruins.

„Shepard." Tali put a hand on her shoulder. A bit startled, the other woman turned her helmeted head to the quarian.

„Is something the matter?", Tali asked. Shepard shook her head.

„No, nothing. Was just a bit captivated by the statue.", the Commander replied and cocked her head slightly into said direction.

„Yes, I saw it, too.",the quarian agreed. The glow of Tali's eyes narrowed a bit behind the polarized mask. „It _is_ beautiful.", she said then. „But for some reason it also makes me feel sad."

„Yeah. Felt that, too.", Shepard commented before Garrus cleared his throat audibly.

„Don't mean to ruin your little vernissage here but I believe we had a mission. And the faster we get this over with, the sooner we can leave this frozen hell!"

„All right, big boy. We are almost there.", Shepard said and was almost about to pat the turian's head.

The squad proceeded on its way, jumping over the water streets, while they followed their signal. It didn't take them long until they arrived at the dig site. One of the scientists was already awaiting them. Tightly packed in a thick winter coat as well as gloves and a thick scarf, the researcher waved his hand at them in front of a wooden door that was built into a high ice wall.

„Commander. We were already waiting. My name is Dr. Daniel Martins. Leader of this expedition."

Shepard nodded in acknowledgement.

„I was told you found something valuable to my mission."

In response Dr. Martins just opened the round wooden door and invited them in with a gesture of his hand. At Shepard's questioning glance he replied:

„It will be easier when I show you."

„Crawling, really?", Garrus sighed.

„You were a vigilante on Omega. The most dangerous and lawless place in the galaxy, filled with gangs, thugs and mercs who wanted to see you impaled in public and you complain about cold and crawling through shafts?"

This was Tali who was already halfway through the small tunnel.

„Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."

The shaft was not very long and the three came out on the other side almost immediatly after they entered through the wooden door. On the inside it was just as frozen as the rest of the place.

Water spread around a small island and the landmass they stood on. Remains of wooden, small bridges were seen on both sides of the small snow island and at its center stood _an iceberg?_

The large, transparent crystals grew high and powerful from the island's center, further to the back of the frozen cavern, until they reached the icewall and from there grew up high into a pointy peek.

Wires and tubes leaping from various devices were connected to the iceberg. Computers and other machines for taking measurements worked on high speed, glowing and beeping, whenever they spat out a new result. Scientists stood around the iceberg, studying the strange phenomenon and evaluating their calculations.

„So I came here for this?", Shepard asked Dr. Martins insecurely and slightly offended.

„The iceberg is a unique phenomenon indeed. Its shape is very unsusual compared to othe icebergs on the whole planet."

„How so?", Shepard asked. She felt kind of betrayed at this point. Did the Illusive Man just send her to look at rare, natural constructs? _Of course not, there has to be something more._ So she just waited patiently, listened to Dr. Martins' explanations.

„As you can see the form of the ice differs geatly from what you might have seen on the outside. Natural icebergs are edgier and more chaotic. While this one is clearly not cut cleanly into shape, it still remains oddly even."

Dr. Martins lead the Commander and her squad over one of the very fragile looking bridges to the small island, right in front of the frozen rock. He waved his hand at one particular spot of the construct.

„Especially these patterns are often found on the whole object."

Shepard examined the demonstrated spot. Frozen waves wound into eachother and lead to the icewall on the back. Others of them, however, climbed up high and entwined with others of their kind to form the peek.

„It looks like an ocean wave hit that wall...", Shepard said absentmindedly.

„Precisely. However given the geological circumstances, this hardly seems possible. Also, there is something else strange about this object."

„Which is?"

„We've measured the ice of the walls of this place and it is undoubtedly thousands of years old but...", Dr. Martins paused.

„Yes?"

„This iceberg, however, is much younger."

„How much younger?"

„We ran several measurements, tests and calculations on that, always with the same result. According to that, this object is only 100 years old."

„Go on.", Shepard said simply. The scientist cleared his throat. Of course there was more.

„It also eminates an unknown kind of energy."

„What?" Almost simultaniously Shepard and her team snapped at the scientist.

„So it's a magical iceberg!", Garrus commented.

„Well, our readings picked up the strange energy waves as soon as they were online. But it didn't match any schematics we had. But there was also something else."

„This place seems to be full of surprises.", Tali whispered as Dr. Martins walked them another bit around the object.

„Look for yourself.", he simply said.

Her eyes widened as far as was possible when she followed Dr. Martins' gesture and looked up.

„Spirits.", Garrus gasped.

„Keelah.", Tali cheeped.

Deeply imbedded in the thick ice was a woman. No way she was still alive in there, but her body and youth looked frighteningly well preserved. Her eyes were closed, face slightly lifted upwards, ridiculously long hair captured as it swirled around her body, arms spread wide but hands firmly clenched into fists, as if she was preparing for an attack in her final moments.

„Are you telling me that woman has been in there for a 100 years, without being decomposed?" There were findings of early humans, frozen in some glacier on the mountains, but nontheless the only thing that stayed intact was the body structere. But the skin and other things clearly looked decayed and rotten. Yet this woman looked like she died only yesterday.

„Damn shame.", Garrus said while still staring at the frozen figure.

„To die so young and so horribly.", Tali added in shock.

„From what we have, it looks petty much like it.", Dr. Martins then said.

„What do you mean 'from what you have'? Didn't you try to get the body out of there?", Shepard exclaimed. She made a mental note, that she'd have a serious conversation with the Illusive Man about this. _So this valuable asset of yours is an ice mummy?_

„Of course we tried!", Dr. Matins now began. „But the object wouldn't let us!", he ended.

„What the hell are you blabbering there?", Shepard hissed angryly and shoved him to the side. For some reason Shepard didn't like it when people treated a dead human like an object. Many argued that a human is no longer human once they're dead, since their personality and everything else that made them them, was gone. Somehow it was plausible, but Shepard thought, even a dead body deserved a certain amountof respect, at least one last honor before they went completly. Being kept in an iceberg is certainly not considered a last honor.

The Commander activated her omnitool. The familiar orange hologram enkindled to life and formed a large blade alongside her lower arm, following her command. She drew back her arm widely before she hit the ice with a powerful strike. Under normal circumstances the ice would shatter and break under the sheer force of the impact. But in this case the material resisted and even fought back. In one blink a glow bathed the cavern in blinding light, before Shepard was violantly shoved back by an invisible force and landed on her back. She immediatly fought to sit up and rubbed her back that was still hurting from the hit.

„What the hell...?", she muttered

„Shepard!", she heard Garrus call who she then found crouching beside her, lending her his arm and helping her to stand.

„Thanks, I'm all right."

„Is finding mysterious monolites that are potentially deadly a hobby of yours?", he joked but couldn't quite conceal the worry in his tone. .

„At least it doesn't get boring that way.", Tali commented.

„And that's why we couldn't free the body from the ice.", Dr. Martins now intervended after he cleared his throat.

Shepard returned her focus to the iceberg. She wasn't just here to look at a rock that refused to be destroyed and then depart again. Looking at the woman she had the feeling she couldn't leave her here either and her instincts told her that by 'valuable asset' The Illusive Man meant this person obviously. So she had to free the body somehow.

With this thought in mind her leggs almost moved on their own towards the iceberg. The rational part of her brain argued that she should at least think of the possibilities she might had to beak this frozen prison, since violance obviously didn't work. But at the same time it seemed like...the woman was calling her? Soft whispers, barely understandable in her head, but she could clearly precieve the plea for freedom. _Am I mad? I shouldn't be doing this._ , she told herself and yet she moved along. Captivated in a state of trance her right arm rose mechanically again, palm spread and about to touch the ice.

„Shepard, wait. No!", she heard Garrus' muffeled voice warn her from somewhere, but it had no use. She touched the ice, this time gently and slowly.

On the spot where her hand rested, ornaments she never had seen before, flickered into life. The artistic curves, lines and entanglements glowed from undeneath her touch and spread over the whole crystal. And then the world went silent around her.

Shepard observed her surroundings and saw only blackness around her. The cavern, her squad, and the science team all dissappeared. But she wasn't afraid or panicing even one bit. So she just relaxed and waited and not for long. Light flickered on again, and she found herself in another place, a place that looked real and yet unreal at the same time. It was difficult to grasp.

The sky had a blue to purple colouring. The ground was consisting of tones of brown and grey, but no grass or any other plants grew on it. Mounatins surrounded the place and let it appear as a perfect circle. At the center stood a fairly dried out tree and on either side of the circle she saw light beams stretching up to the surreal sky.

 _What is this place?_ she wondered and noticed only then that she was floating, but couldn't move freely, as if someone held her in place to show her something very important, and that very urgently.

Then suddenly, something floated out of one of the light beams and Shepard felt the urge to scream, but found that she couldn't either. The form she saw was flat and glowed in a dark red that reminded her of blood. Ornaments of a lighter tone coloured its surface and multiple tentacles lashing out of its body.

Then another figure appeard, a young man with messy dark hair, holding an ancient looking tea can while he sat on a mount that was unknown to Shepard. She saw how the young man hopped off of his mount and began to fight the other creature. Her mouth fell open as she observed the encounter. The man lashed several fire attacks at the creature, which dissolved at the places where it got hit, only to rematerialize instantly and attacki back with an energy beam lashing out from his face.

Shepard gasped. The form, how it moved, its attacks...it reminded her of a... _reaper?_ _No, this can't be_. And as soon as she finished the thought she saw how the man was pushed back, where he dropped the tea can. She saw how his lips formed words she could not hear and after that another creature crept out of the can...and looked like a negative copy of the other creature.

It had the same form, but was significantly smaller and white, with blue markings. What she saw next was how the light creature passed into the body of the man. His eyes began to glow and he rose up in a firce whirlwind. With another shot of fire he pushed the dark creature back who still fought back as well. It pushed him to one of the light beams and the man appeard to be in pain, as he collapsed and gritted his teeth. Then he reached out to the beam behind him. His eyes started to glow again and this time the young man seemed to win the upper hand on his opponent. The next moment she saw how he captured it in a ball of circling air, as he wrapped a layer of circling fire around it, and then water and then earth, preventing the dark creature to escape from every direction. Firmly he pushed the creature into a whole in the dry tree which was sealed by the energy from the light beams, meeting eachother now.

Her surroundings blurred away again and made room for other scenes. This time the images moved faster, not forming a long scene like the last vision.

A comet blazing through the sky.

A burning temple.

A boy caught in a storm and then falling into the ocean. Eyes glowing, as he closed himself in in a shell of ice along with his mount.

A white haired woman falling liflessly into the arms of a boy who cried over her death. How she dissolved and reappeard as a shining, ethereal being, as the moon suddenly bathed the place into its silver light.

A sea monster pushing and pulling the glowing water underneath it, forcing a fleet of metallic warships to withdraw and armies to dissolve.

A fight in a cave between crystals and rocks. A lightning striking as if it hit her own chest before darkness evened the ground for the next image.

A solar eclipse, a lost battle and painful seperation.

A fierce duel underneath the burning sky. The boy from earlier holding an older man in place. Hand firmly placed on forhead and chest. Light eminating from both of them. The boy shone in a bright blue, while the man was an agressive orange. The orange light slowly but constantly feeding from the blue one, until it almost consumed it entirely, before the last spark left of it took over and quickly pushed the oange light away, basking the place in its glory, as if it wanted to brand its authority to it.

Then darkness took over briefly again, before the next set of images appeard.

This time a young woman. Fire and fierceness in her clear turquois eyes, quickly confronted with adult responsability and fear.

A masked man placing his thumb on her forhead, tearing away everything she was.

The young woman persuing the masked man now, fighting back as she tried too escape an unvisible force controlling her. And sudden lashes of air coming from her, winning her the battle.

A circle of worried faces looking at the woman.

An argument with a man who tried to comfort her.

The woman crying on frozen cliffs before a bald man with an arrow on his head moved to her and gave her back what was taken from her.

The same glowing of the eyes and lashing of the four elements around her as the boy and the young man from the beginning.

A fight with the same creature the young man from before had fought.

A furious battle in mid air armed with nothing except for the familiar glow and a metal chain.

A ceremony in a temple. The young woman in a wheel chair, watching and crying with a strange mix of happiness and sadness.

A battle with a giant mech, shooting lasers uncontrollably eveywhere. Small, old fashioned fighters surrounding the machine, trying to bring it down with many small, well placed hits.

The final surrender of a strong woman and the forgivness of the other.

A wedding, with feelings of happiness and honest relief and delight.

A private moment with a black haired woman in a red fine dress.

And a final moment of pure love and understanding in a stream of light, within the crumbles of a city.

Again darkness embraced her and showed her a set of other images.

The arrival of several people dressed in dark blue robes.

A departure several years later and the farewell to a beloved mother.

A widely smiling face of a bearded man in a wheelchair, comforting the newly arrived girl.

 _Joker?_ Shepard thought while she watched the memory. And she recognized the other person, too. There was no doubt that this was the woman captured in the iceberg, only smaller and younger.

The images moved on.

Several training sessions with several different masters, teaching the girl defferent fighting techniques.

The apraisal for creating a water whip correctly.

The scolding for not standing her ground in front of a down rolling rock.

The fear of burning her master's home down if she failed.

Then a call for a mission. Joker's resemblance reappeared , giving the woman and her companion instructions, him bidding her farewell and her unreasonable sadness.

And the next image she saw broke Shepard's heart as if it was her own friend who had been pierced with the iceblade she now saw peeking out of the now young woman's companion.

Moments of shock, desperation and sadness quickly followed by rage and the thirst of blood and revenge.

Layers over layers of water freezing to ice around the young woman and the cruel smile of a familiar older one, as she wrapped the last wave around her and sealed her away from the world.

Unexpectedly Commander Shepard was dropped back to reality. Completly disoriented she didn't know how much time had passed. To her it seemed like hours. She looked aimlessly around slwoly taking in her surroundings. The scientists, the machinery and a three fingered, turian hand pulling her back.

„Shepard!" This was Garrus. Shepard calmed down at the known subvocaled voice

„Shepard!", he repeated. „What the hell did just happen?"

The Commander blinked a few times before she replied:" I don't know...?"

„Whatever you did, it broke through the ice! Look.", Tali said now as she pointed to the iceberg. The massive construct slowly began to rumble, cracks began to appear along the whole crystal and pieces began to fall down. Now a louder crack rang out end let several spikes of ice lash out from it.

Instantly in full control of her body once more Shepard began to shout:

„Don't stand around! That thing's about to blow up! Move, move!"

Everyone followed the order and moved away as far as possible from the iceberg. More spikes lashed out and threatened to pierce them. They couldn't move out quickly enough as the only way out was the narrow tunnel they used before.

So instead, Shepard focused on the group around her. Gathering her full streangth and concentration, she formed a biotic shield around, preventing any spikes to hit them.

The peek of the iceberg finally blew up and realeased a beam of light into the sky.

 _What's with the light beams in this place actually?_

Moments later the crumbling and rumbling seized. A blow of wind washed over them all as Shepard dissolved the biotic barrier.

In midst of the iceberg's remains stood the woman. Long hair falling down her back and eyes glowing brightly in the dim light of the cavern.

Neither Shepard nor he squad or the scientists moved. The woman began to take slow steps, carefully setting one foot behind the other.

 _My God, she's alive!_

Then she suddenly collapsed at the edge what formerly was her trap. Without further thinking Shepard moved to her, turning her on her back, while she checked for life sgins. As she felt the clear firm pulse, Shepard exhaled in relief. Quickly she activated her omnitool.

„Joker! Send Mordin and Dr. Chakwas down here 've got a medical emergency!"

„Aye aye, Commander!", the pilot replied.

While waiting for her medics, Shepard kept observing her new protegee, watching her breathing and checking other vital signs, keeping herself ready for possible necessities of first aid. Miriculously the woman breathed steadily and calmly, as if she never was frozen as they found her before. Her face was round and young. If Shepard had to guess she would place the woman's age at 23, maybe 24 years maximum. Her hair was curly and voluminous and sometimes the commander had the feeling that it was alive and concious on its own, as she struggeled several times to free one of her hands that kept entangling themselves in the messy jungle of dark chocolate brown. Her curvy body was covered in antipuated, asian themed clothes.

 _Just who is she?_

Suddenly a scope of a very familiar sniper rifle appeared next to the woman's forehead, poking her lightly there. Shepard looked up angrily and snapped Garrus' rifle aside.

„Stop that!"

„I don't know, Shepard. Might not be a good idea to just take her with us."

„But we can't just leave her alone either. She wasn't caught in there just since yesterday and if she awakes she may be in for big shock.", Shepard reasoned. She was never someone who left a person behind whom she had the power to help.

„Yeah and maybe she goes crazy in her big shock and turns on us. Did you see those glowing eyes?", Garrus countered now but they didn't have any further chance to widen their discussion. Mordin, who was wrapped and packed up in a thick coat that didn't fit his body structure and several scarves stumbled through the tunnel into the place. It looked very improvised and of course the salarian was not pepared for such an action, but neither had the rest of the Normandy crew. So they arranged some winter clothing from everyone and gave it to him in order to protect him from the merciless cold.

Salarians were amphibians and native to Sur'Kesh, which was a planet full of tropical islands. So naturally they kept a body temperature close to their usual environment which was preferably warm. Here Mordin would probably freez within minutes if not propperly protected. Hence the strange appearance.

Dr. Chakwas on the other hand had a similiar coat but it was fitting her better, of course and was not so wrapped up like her salarian collegue.

They both walked straightly to Shepard, carrying along, backpacks and kits filled with whatever medical equipment they might need.

„What happened to her?" It was Chakwas who asked while she and Mordin crouched down beside their patient.

„She was frozen within an iceblock.", Shepard replied, partly afraid that the medics would decide to examine her instead and give her their strongest sedative so they could drop her in the next mental hospital.

„Then patient must already be dead. No need for us to come.", Mordin said now.

„Look closely. She's breathing!", Shepard replied. The salarian leaned in closer to study the strange woman.

„Fascinating. Patient really still beathing. But how?", Mordin thought out loud.

„You may be able to ask her, if you can stabilize her now!", Shepard now groweled in frustration. The medics noted that and immediatly got to work.

First only basic examination. Mordin took the left wrist of the woman and looked on his omnitool, while Shepard saw that his lips were moving. He was checking the pulse. At the same time Dr. Chakwas took her temperature. She studied the measurements briefly.

„Surprisingly her body temperatue is only slightly lower than average. We'll cover her up for warmth isolation for now.", Dr. Chakwas anounced.

„Agree. Stabile for now. Further examination apropriate aboard the ship.",Mordin nodded to Chakwas. And so they did. They pulled out a shiny warmth isolating blanket and wrapped it around the woman whom they moved to a plankbed for transportation and pushed through the tunnel to the outside. Shepard quickly bade the sience team farewell and moved along. Almost jogging, the medics carried their patient to a shuttle that managed to land nearby. A second shuttle, the one that originally brought them down, appeared now and landed to board Shepard and her squad. Mordin's and Chakwas' craft moved first and was quickly followed by the other. After a few minutes both shuttles boarded the Normandy and as soon as they touched the shuttlebay, Joker spoke to them over the radio comm.

„Whatever you digged out down there, it better be worth it. Our Alliance buddies are now coming around for another attack."

And as if to confirm his claims, the ship suddenly began to shake heavily. Joker was obviously dodging various attacks and strikes. Booming noises were heard from outside the hull and the Normandy shook at every single one of them.

 _Probably trying to tear our barrier down._ Another booming noise and this time the ship turned heavily to the right, causing the shuttles to almost slide fully at the wall. Chakwas and Mordin did their best to keep ther patient at her current place however.

„Easy up there, Joker! We've got a patient down here!", Shepard called over the radio comm.

„I swear, I'm doing what I can!", the pilot answered, half growling.

The shaking and tturning lasted at least for the next hour or so. Fighting to keep themselves on their feet in the first place, they tried to carefully move the woman from the iceberg into the medbay, considerably avoiding to inflict damages on her she might not even had carried previously.

In the medbay the ship was still shaking too strongly as for Chakwas or Mordin to inject anything into their patient so they mostly kept watching, moving only when it was absolutely necessary.

Finally after moments, that seemed like hours they felt the familliar vibration of the mass relay shooting them to the other end of the galaxy, instead of the ungraceful rocking. And now they could finally check their protegee.

* * *

It took the medics a while until they were satisfied with their examination. In the meanwhile Commander Shepard had gone up to her cabin and swept her armour with her black-white working uniform. Her privat terminal chirped restlessly into the silence of the cabin, infoming her of her new messages. Quickly she hopped through them and stumbled over a message from Anderson. Councilor Anderson, now after Shepard recomended him for the position after Sovereign's attack on the Citadel.

 _Shepard,_

 _I recieved word of what happened on and over Earth. It was outspokenly troubling to hear such a thing from you and I hope you think about charging right into Alliance Space while you are flagged as Cerberus twice next time._

 _Anyhow, soldiers who followed you to Earth's surface reported that you landed at the North Pole. Also they claimed to have seen a light beam streaming from a cavern, as well as you carrying a body out of it and to your ship._

 _Come to the Citadel as soon as you can. I wish to speak with you about whatever you discovered down there._

 _Anderson._

Shepard sighed. A feeling of guilt paired with the obligation to justify herself before Anderson startled her sometimes. She grew up with parents, yet Anderson was more like a father to her than the actual donator of her second DNA-stripe. She closed the terminal and made her way to the medbay, where Dr. Chakwas and Mordin were still hovering over her new guest.

„So, how's she doing?", Shepard asked

„Surprisingly stable. No other damage detectable,no injuries...", Mordin blurted out. He seemed like he forgot that the woman was a living being in the first place and not an exceptionally successful experiment of his.

„Well, we detected minor rib fractures and contusions but other than that...Stable temperature, regular heart frequency, steady breathing. We are only monitoring the heart rate but there is no need for artificial respiration. However it is unclear when she will awake, so nutrition must be injected for the time being.", Chakwas summerized.

„Any idea, when she will wake up?", Shepard continued.

„Difficult to say. Brain scans showed brain activity intact, no irregularities. May regain conciousness in hours. Also possibly in days.", Mordin answered. His large eyes focused on the woman only, a faint but steady smile stucking to his long face. If he had the time he would write a 1000 paged essay about their discovery.

„Then its best to let her rest.", the Commander evaluated.

„Yes, that would be the best.", Chakwas agreed and Mordin nodded reluctantly.

„Will be in lab if you need anything." The salarian scientist scutteled off and Shepard chuckled at the sight.

„I understand his excitement, though.", Dr. Chakwas suddenly said. „It's hard to believe that this young woman may be over 120 years old. And above all simply frozen in an iceblock. Unbelievable.", the elder woman finished.

„You doubt it?", Shepard questioned.

„No. Not after everything _we_ went through and seeing you emerging form the dead, as well, Commander. Now I think anything is possible."

Shepard laughed a little louder now.  
„Then I'm glad I left such an impression!"


	3. Chapter 3: Awakening

_Welcome to the third chapter of 'Just in Time'. There is actually not a lot to say, only that I hope you guys like this on as well and a big thank you to all the people who have favorited the story and/or have added it to their follows. Again, that means a great deal to me. But I would also be happy if some of you comented on this. Don't be shy. :)_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Awakening**

Nadira found herself in complete and utter darkness. There was no ground underneath or sky or ceiling above and yet she stood. She turned around, not entirely sure what it would bring. Before she could decide that she had no idea where she was her firm stance suddenly vanished and she found herself falling and falling and falling...

Until she hit the ground hardly. She lifted her gaze and stared into the cold, blue eyes of Sifu Yuka. A cruel smile on her face and in the next moment blood...and the lifelessly smiling face of ... _Takashi!_

„NO!", she heard herself crying and tore her eyes open. She found herself lying in a bed and staring at a metallic ceiling, and before she could turn around to determine where she was, she heard a beeping sound and something slided open.

„My God..", she heard someone whisper. From the sound of it, it had to be the voice of a woman. The voice had the undertoned, wavering shadow of age to it, which was not unpleasent.

Then a face finally entered her vision. An elderly woman with green eyes and grey, short hair she did not recognize, looked at her.

Panic rose in Nadira. Without a second thought she decided that she needed to get out and wanted to jump out of the bed. She tore her upper body up. Blackness spread in front of her eyes, dizzyness spreading in her head and she immediatly fell down on the matress again.

„Don't move so suddenly. It is not healthy for you, considering your current state, girl.", the elder woman told her.

Panting and with a heart that pounded heavily in her throat, the young woman tried to calm herself. A machine next to her noticed the reaction with, faster going beeping sounds.

„And you need to calm yourself.", the elder woman noticed, looking at her heart rate, that already began to sink to normal again.

Nadira put a hand on her forhead and tried to blink the darkness away. Her vision cleared slowly and her breathing settled down. She inhaled deeply and exhaled once again to shake away every last bit of panic.

 _Panic is not good. Doesn't let you think clearly..._

„Good, you are settling down. And I thought I needed to inject a sedative to calm you.", the woman said and chuckled at her own comment.

„How are you feeling?", she saked now.

Nadira only stared at her, confused and without orientation. She wanted to reply something but couldn't form the right words, as if she had forgotten how to speak.

The elder woman's gaze looked puzzeled now and she spoke again.

„CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME?", she asked now loudly and carfully pronouncing every word and letter. Nadira decided to nodd as a response for now, while she started to sort out her memories.

„I see.", the elder woman now said and walked away.

Nadira turned her head around now, trying to register her environment while she thought. The room she was in was metallic and had no windows. Shades of grey and white dominated its outmake, frequently interrupted by red crosses here and there. It was very loveless and clinical.

 _A hospital or a medical station?_ , she thought. The last thing she remembered was the North Pole. And with that name the memory returned to her in a flood.

Sifu Yuka lured her into a trap and...killed...Takashi...? Yes, she actually killed him! _And then cold? Water? No, water turning into ice._ The memory was weak, but she remembered herself being hit by water from several directions as if she were surrounded. And then the cold was everywhere. _Did they freez me alive?_ It would at least explain why she had no idea how she had gotten to where she was and why she was brought to a hospital of all places. But the place didn't look like it belonged to the Water Tribe or the Air Nomads.

„EDI, tell the Commander that our guest has woken up.", she now heard the elder woman say.

„Very well, Dr. Chakwas.", a stealy, female sounding voice replied.

 _Doctor, huh? So she is the medic who treated me._ Nadira thought. She needed to ask her where she was and she had to tell everyone...tell Monk Joseph what happened! About Yuka's treason...and what she did to Takashi! Or did they already know? Lots of questions formed in her mind that had no answer.

The next moment she heard something beep and slide open again. „Did I hear that correctly, Doctor? She regained consciousness?", a firm, female voice asked which probably belonged to the person who now moved in quickly.

„See for yourself, Commander.", the elder woman answered. There it was again! Commander. Commander of what? _Where the hell am I?_

A new face appeared now in her vision. The person who looked at her was a woman, maybe thirty years old, but not older. She had very short, curly hair, which barely reached her ears. Her eyes weren't very wide, but not small or very narrow either. They were hazel and gave her a serious and experienced expression to her brown skinned face. Her straight nose wasn't particularly small or big and she had full lips which curled up into a soft smile. For some reason Nadira thought that her face was familiar. Somewhere in the deepest corners of her brain something rang slightly and Nadira immediatly thought of her mother: There was this american actress she had so adored in her youth, who was famous in the beginninng of this century. But what was her name again?

 _Hm...something with 'H'... Hilary, Heather...Haley?...Hele...Berry!_ Yes, that was it, the woman who appearantly was a Commander of whatever looked like Hele Berry.

„I hope you slept well.", the woman said now. In comparison to Dr. Chakwas, who spoke with a clear britsish accent, the commander had a not quite so clean american one.

„I...", Nadira managed and wanted to sit up again. She was steadied by the grip of the older woman.

„Careful, girl. Slowly, there you go." With the medic's help Nadira set up slowly.

„One hell of a show you put up out there, by the way.", the Commander commented now.

 _The oh so powerful Avatar State..._

It wasn't hard to figure out to what the Commander was refering to.

„It...happens sometimes.", Nadira said, now more or less regaining her strength. The two other women exchanged glances dubiously, as if they didn't believe her.

„Uh...you often freez youself in iceblocks?", the Commander asked cautiously.

„No. How long have I been unconscious?", Nadira asked slightly too sharp.

„A few days. We were not sure when exactly you would awaken. It was a miracle alone that you were still alive when Commander Shepard got you out of there.", the medic now replied.

 _Shepard, huh?_

„So...", Shepard now said. „Care to tell us who you are and what happened to you?"

Nadira narrowed her eyes slightly. Didn't these people watch news feeds? Everyone knew by now that she was the Avatar, however useless she was.

„You first.", she said dryly, after she decided she didn't trust them.

The medic spoke first. „My name is Dr. Karin Chakwas, military medic and in service under Commander Shepard for aproximately a year? There was a large pause in between."

The younger woman chuckled and introduced herself as well. „And I am Commander Mariam Shepard, Alliance N-", Commander Shepard paused. Her eyefocus moved to the ceiling. She seemed to think carefully about her next words.

„Well, I was in the Alliance but certain circumstances had me work for Cerberus now. I am the commanding officer of the Normandy.", she ended.

 _Wait, what? Military? Normandy?_

„How the hell did I get to France and what is the Alliance or Cerberus?" The two women looked at eachother, before Commander Shepard took the word.

„First things first. We introduced ourselves, now it's your turn. Then we can talk about the rest."

Now Nadira thought about how to put her words together and decided that she would not introduce herself as the Avatar for now.

„My name is Nadira.", she paused briefly. _I think it's safe to introduce myself as a regular airbender of one of the temples._

„Airbender of the Eastern Air Temple.", she ended, careful not to reveal any emotion. As soon as she finished the sentence the two women in front off her turned to eachother, exchanged another glance and then stared at her as if she had grown a second head.

„I beg you pardon...?", the Commander finally managed.

„Perhaps I should take another look at your head.", Dr. Chakwas added and already let her examining hands wander to her head.

„What, no! I'm fine!", Nadira almost screamed and fuddeled the hands of the worried medic away.  
„You sure?", Commander Shepard asked.

„Of course, why?", Nadira exclaimed and frowned deeply. _Is this madness ever going to end?_

„Well, there is no _Air Temple._ I don't even know what that is.", the Commander replied bluntly and gazed at her helplessly. What in the name of God did she get into this time?

„You guys live in a cave or something? There are at least _four_ Air Temples in the world and I happen to live in the eastern one. Therefore I would much appreciate it if you brought me there or at least let me contact my people.", Nadira snapped now. She was well aware that she probably sounded unfriendly and bitchy, but this time she thought she had every right and reason to be.

„I'm sorry.", Shepard said now hestitantly. „But like I said. There simply is no _Air Temple_. Maybe you are just confused?", she ended and Nadira was astonished at how calm the Commander remaind, despite her own sharpness in tone.

The young Avatar placed a hand on her forhead. She admitted that she had lost every sense of time and orientation, but her mind insisted that there are indeed Air Temples in the world. She remebered her training there, Monk Joseph and Takashi. Nadira shook her head wearyly. „No, no, I'm not confused. That is where I come from. But, where am I? You said on the Normandy, why was I taken to France?", she said now.

Shepard's full lips curled up to a faint smile, barely visible but there. „You are not in France. The Normandy is this ship's name."

„And who the hell decided that floating somewhere on the sea is a good idea for me?", Nadira asked sharply again. Shepard rubbed the back of her neck nervously and her gaze wandered anywhere but to her.

„What now?" Panic began to spawn deep within the Avatar. So far she had been lead into a trap by her own teacher, her best friend had been murdered by the same and now she found herself confronted with rather strange folk who told her that she was at the Normandy, which wasn't the french coast but a ship, which appearantly wasn't a ship on the sea. _Maybe I didn't wake up. Maybe I am still unconscious and dreaming or perhaps I'm already dead._

„Young lady...Nadira, what do you think what year we have?" This was Dr. Chakwas who asked. What kind of question was this? Has she been in a coma for several years? The young Avatar dismissed the thought quickly, concluding that she would be told as soon as she gave her answer.

„ February 2085.", she said briefly. Now twitchy and restless herself Nadira observed how Dr. Chakwas looked at Commander Shepard with an undefinable expression and a faint hint of something else. _Pity?_ The Commander herself sucked in her breath, a clear sign that showed that this whole situation was about to get a lot more uncomfortable. Shepard coughed briefly before she spoke:

„Uhm...You may not like what I'm about to tell you, but you need to promise me that you try to stay relaxed."

„I will make no such promises.", Nadira answered quickly. „Whatever you got, spit it out quickly, then we'll see."

„Allright, that's what you wanted. God, how do I say this?" Once again Shepard looked away, probably collecting her thoughts. Meanwhile Dr. Chakwas did her best to stay out of the conversation. Instead she occupied herself with Nadira's left arm, in which an IV needle was injected, providing her with nutrition while she was still unconscious. Carefully the medic removed the needle from her arm and brushed the spot with a cotton piece that was sunk into alcohol before. Then she waved an unknown, orange glowing device in front of her. Nadira was fairly sure she never had seen a thing like this before but it wasn't hard to see that it appearantly had a scanning function.

Shepard returned her attention to her, now having found the right words. Almost in slow motion her mouth began to move.

„We have the year 2185.", the Commander finally said bluntly. Nadira just kept staring at Shepard for seemingly forever. She heard the number but her brain refused to process the information. Her lips formed an unbelieving smile that didn't reach her eyes.

„Can you say that again? I think I didn't hear that correctly."

„2185."

 _2185._

 _2185?_

 _2185!_

Again and again the number echoed in her ears. Her breath picked up on speed and her throat dried out.

Given the asumption that the Commander was still in her mind and wasn't playing any jokes on her, then it wasn't hard to do the math in this case. One-hundred clean years! Realization hit like an angry sabertooth-deer mother.

Yuka managed to freez her in an ice prison for a century and only the fact that the woman was probably already dead kept Nadira's temper in control. But that also meant that everyone else she knew and loved had died.

Her friends at the Air Temples and the rest of the world, her mother, Monk Joseph; they were all gone and Nadira...?

 _I am alone._ A feeling of grieve and emptiness tugged at her heart. She remembered weakly how she felt that something was wrong, how she may had the oportunity to avoid this if she just had insisted on not going...and guilt immediatly forced its place between the grieve and the emptiness.

Anyone who had believed in her return, who had believed in the unshatterable cycle of the Avatar, she brutally had dissapointed. What devlopement did she miss? For what did the world need her and she simply didn't show up to and what did her loved ones felt when they finally had to accept that she wouldn't return?

 _Is this how you felt, Aang?_ And with this thought Naidra cursed the Avatar State which had protected her from freezing to death. A simple conclusion came to her mind when she remembered the last moments before Yuka had frozen her completly.

 _The Avatar Cycle ends here!_ The traitor had said. It became only clear when Nadira had actually time to think about it. Yuka, of course never wanted to kill her, that she had indeed said. She purposly sacrificed Takashi's life to drive her into the Avatar State and to keep her in that state, preferably forever. And logically, the Avatar would not be reborn because the Avatar would still be alive technically. Indeed effective for stopping the Avatar Cycle. But then again, wouldn't had it been easier to just kill her while she was in the Avatar State? It would had desroyed the Avatar spirit and the Avatar would had ceased to exist. However Yuka's prison solution appearantly failed after one-hundred years of success.

Nadira felt a body stepping closer to her. Commander Sheparrd bowed down to her sitting form and made eye contact.

„Hey, you okay?", she asked and real concern flowed in the sympathetic tone.

„No, I am not.", Nadira replied.

„Look, I know it's...difficult. I had a similiar experience only recently. Missed crucial points, people were gone, others moved on and you, simply struggle to figure out where you fit into all the mess."

The Avatar looked at Shepard and she was pretty sure her gaze was empty and lost. She had listened to the woman talk and was surprised at how close she came to what Nadira thought and felt. Nadira couldn't help but notice that something was opening up to the woman in front of her, if she willed it or not. When the Avatar didn't reply Shepard proceeded in talking.

„You don't have to get started all new and fresh immediatly. We'll find your place as we go. No need to rush anything."

Commander Shepard put her right hand on her left shoulder. A reasuring gesture. Again silence from Nadira, in which Shepard took the initiative to speak again.

„You are not alone in this. I'll help you."

That made Nadira look up instantly. She wasn't sure if she actually could trust anyone here. But it was a faintly shimmering thread of hope. However week it was, it was something she could hold onto before she would find herself falling into the cold dark hole that is lonliness. So she just nodded and remained silent for lack of any idea of what to say.

„So, Dr. Chakwas. How's she doing?"

„Very well, considering her unique circumstances. The contusions she had have mostly healed. The medigel did a good job on the bone fractures. I would still not recomend too much movement or any physical exercise. It would be ideal if she would get used to movement slowly first, step by step, if you will. And as soon as she feels ready, getting a reasonable amount of actual, solid food into her."

Hearing all the medical blabbering of Dr. Chakwas was to Nadira another positive point she could add to the list. It made her calm and clear out her thoughts again, which reminded her that she still had no idea of where she was.

„I really appreciate the positive atmosphere here you are trying to create but I still don't know where I am.", Nadira comented.

„Well, on the Normandy-", Dr. Chakwas answered this time.

„Yeah, I know. On a ship named after the french coast, Normandy. But on which ocean does the Normandy currently cruise?"

Their earlier behavior had hinted already that the Normandy wasn't cruising on a sea, but where else would it possibly be? So Nadira had just changed from sea to the next greater category. Ocean. Surely they were somewhere out on an ocean and not a small sea.

„Uh, well you see. I wanted to get to that point.", Shepard hestitated. Nadira sighed. It was clear that there was more she needed to brace her stomach for, but she also wanted to get it over with already.

„Commander Shepard. You just broke to me that I missed an entire century of human history. How possibly much worse can this get?",the Avatar asked with a light hint of annyoance in her tone.

„Okay, here we go. We are not on any ocean. In fact we are not even on a world. We are-" Nadira's eyes widened at the end of the sentence. She didn't need to hear the end of it.

„IN SPACE?!", she interrupted the Commander's sentence.

„Please, I need you to stay calm.", Shepard did her best to ease the newly risen tenson but it was of no use.

„You're shitting me! This can't...I need to see...confirm this for myself."

The young Avatar didn't care now about the desperate attempts of the two other women to keep her in place. At once she seemed to regain all strength and orientation she had had missed only moments ago. Not quite so gently she shoved the medic aside, ignoring her several objections to her sudden movement. As the elderly woman fell to the floor from the impact, the Commander immediatly rushed to her help and forgot about the rampaging Avatar for a second. And Nadira didn't waste a second thought about taking the chance to finally escape the clinical, windowless room. She stepped out of the sliding door to be confronted with another windowless room. There was a large dining table and chairs and a few people had appearntly been sitting there, just enjoying a meal, when their attention was torn to the confused bender. She turned a few times around, trying to decide which direction looked most promising. She setteled for a door similiar to the medical station's just across the larg room.

She stomped into its direction and opened it promptly when she came to halt right in front of it. But she didn't find wat she hoped for. Instead this whole nightmare only worsened. She even forgot about the windows in that moment when she saw the strange, tall creature in front of her. Nadira didn't know what to make of it. It had plates on the face and a strange horn formation on the head. The eyes were small and blue and studied her with clear sharpness. One side of the face was stitched together with a fabric she did not recognize and at the other one there was an exterior mandible, twitchng lightly and reaveling a straight line of pointy sharp teeth.

Nadira stumbled backwards, absolutly bewildered by the sight that offered itself to her. Every instinct in her turned to _predator_ and ordered her to defend herself and preferably get the hell away from this beast. It opened its mouth showing more of those flesh tearing fangs and rose a three fingered hand into her direction.

 _Oh God, it wants to touch me._

„Uh, hey there. I see you're...", it demonstrated its ability to speak

„Garrus, no, wait!", she then heard the Commander call from behind. But Nadira was unable to think clearly or make any valid judgement at the moment. So she followed her primal instinct and for the first time in one-hundred years she let the air around her dance under her command and let it form into dashing wind that took the creature off guard and knocked it off hardly backwards. Immediatly Nadira turned into the other direction and ran across a startled crew who didn't know how to act besides watching. Meanwhile she faintly noticed how Shepard ran to the creature.

„Garrus, you okay?, she asked with unmistakable worry in her tone.

„The scars have only started to heal.", Nadira heard the creature whine. At the same time she opned the door that came to her face next. It beeped and slid open, only to show another set of startled faces. Beside that there were no windows to confirm that she was traveling the galaxy, either. She stepped outside again and heard a new female voice.

„What the heck is this noise all about, Commander?", she asked sharply. The young Avatar however had no intetion of finding out who this person was. She turned instead to the door left of her. It read _Starboard Observation_ and Nadira decided that it looked promising. The door slid apart automatically, as she stepped closer to it. She stepped into the room and the view almost knocked her off her feet. The large window in front of her offered a breath taking view of millions of stars shimmering and sliding by the ship. Blue slices of something she didn't know licked at the crystal clean winodws periodically and very rarely there were also large coulorful nebulars to be seen. It was beautiful, of course but also frightening because she had no idea how to validate her own situation. Of course there was space travel a hundred years ago, but it didn't go further than the outer ring of Saturn and now she looked out into an enviroment that looked like it is outside of any planetary star system. She was so lost in her overhelming feelings, she didn't even notice that someone else had entered the chamber.

The next moment Nadira heard something click next to her head. When she turned around she looked straight into the icey blue eyes of a dark haired woman.

„Move the wrong way and I'll shoot.", she said coldly.

„Nadira, please. I don't want to hurt you. But I can't have you damage my ship or my crew either."

It was the firm and calm voice of the Commander. She felt Shepard step closer from behind. Her dark skinned hand found the pistol of the other woman and pushed it down.

„At ease, Miranda.", she said now.

„I trust you know what you're doing?", Miranda asked.

„I do. Now, Nadira, I hope the view in front of you was enough to convince you of what I told you.", the Commander took the word now.

Nadira didn't dare to breath. She wanted to cry but didn't find the strength for it and only nodded. Dizzyness spread in her head and she almost fell, if Shepard and Miranda weren't there to catch her.

„And let's get you setteled back down and some decent clothes first.", Shepard added simpathetically. Until then Nadira didn't realize that she was dressed only in a white short hospital tunic.

* * *

Shepard was thankful to her advanced reflexes she picked up along her military career when Nadira almost fainted and fell to the ground in the Starboard Observation. She was thankful that Miranda was there to help her. The young woman clutching to her shoulder now was no fragile, delicate being, but a strong built woman and the muscles spoke of a past with regular, strict training excercises. And muscles were heavy.

They led her back to the mess hall instead of the med bay. Shepard decided it would be better for her if she stayed out of it for a while, not making her feel hepless and sick. She was given a Cerberus uniform set, which she quickly put on in Miranda's office and now she was sitting in the mess hall looking to the ground and consequently avoiding any eye contact. She either was emberassed by her own display from a few moments ago or she was depressed or both. Shepard couldn't quite tell and this time she didn't know how to start a conversation to make her light up a bit.

 _My God. A 100 years. And I thought my 2-year-death was disturbing!_ She turned around to the counter where Mess Sergeant Gardner was pretending to clean the table in front of him while he closely watched their guest.

„Mess Sergeant Gardner.", she greeted him.

„Huh? Oh, Commander! What can I get you.", he pretended to be interesed in her. However he couldn't fool her. His hazel eyes wandered frequently to the woman sitting ominously in the mess hall. Shepard smiled politely.

„Watching our newst crew member, Sergeant?"

„Uhm...", he averted his eyes in shame, like he got cought stealing the last cookie.

„It's okay, Seargant. You don't have to be emberassed, nothing wrong with curiosity."

„Well, Commander. I don't know how to put it. On the one hand that girl you picked up is one piece of the finest eye candy. But on the other hand, she knocked your turian clean right off his feet, if you know what I mean."

„Uh-huh.", the Commander remarked mockingly.

„Oh, I uh...would never, I mean...", he muttered.

„Relax, I'm just messing with you.", she said upon his mumbling.

„Yeah, of course. I mean she looks a bit depressed though.", he said now, returning to a serious tone.

„She had a hell of a lot to deal with lately. I'd appreciate if you made her a cup of that peppermint tea, you pour out during breakfast."

„Already on it, Commander."

Right about that moment Shepard was pulled firmly away by a hand which turned out to be one of Miranda's.

„You have a few minutes to talk?", she asked promptly.

„That's my line, Ms. Lawson.", Shepard joked.

„This is not the time for jokes Shepard.", she snapped but was careful to keep her voice low. „Our newest crewmember, Shepard? I hope I misheard you!"

„No, you heard me quite correctly. She is on our team now.", Shepard answered firmly. Miranda frowned.

„With all due respect, Commander but this time you are not knowing what your doing. She walks right off medbay, without medical permission, tosses Garrus into the main Battery, almost killing him and destroying the guns in the process and if I am informed right, she was frozen for a centuary in an iceblock. She has basically no idea of the galaxy and how things work nowadays. And you want her on the team?"

„Miranda!", Shepard cut her words. The adressed woman fell silent momentarily.

„Going head deep into Alliance space and getting several ships destroyed and their people killed by traitors to extract this very woman you are rejecting was the idea of your precious Illusive Man. So if you got any problems with her go talk to him. I wonder what he'll think if his most trusted agent begins to question his decisions."

Usually Shepard wasn't the kind of woman to snap at her team on every given occasion. But Miranda too often – intentionally or unintentionelly – wanted to assume control over the missions she was taken along on. And too often Shepard reminded her politely who actually was in charge, more so when she seemed to be ready to walk over dead bodies to achieve an objective. But this time was enough.

Shepard glared at the other woman with a mix of anger and tiredness, tiredness of her coldness towards other people. Miranda on the other side was not stupid. She exhaled briefly before she answered

„I am sorry, Commander, I didn't want to..." her voice failed as she looked down in discomfort.

„It's okay for now. We''ll have a word about this later."

„Yes, Commander."

Shepard slid her gaze away from the number one Cerberus agent to find Gardner already handing the tea over to Nadira.

„Exclusivly for you, Mess Seargant Gardner's 'Be-Happy-Peppermint-tea'. One sip and you'll feel like throwing glitter all over the galaxy.", the elder man cheered. Nadira whispered a barely audible „Thank you" at that, plain and simple. When she didn't respond any further Gardner turned around and shrugged slightly and insecurely.

Nadira put the hot liquid onto the table in front of her, probably to let it cool down before she would drink it. Shepard slowly walked over to her and sat in front of her. She leaned in closer, not close enough to inaved her space but enough to signal a bit of sympathy, and smiled softly.

„Hey, how are you feeling?"

The long haired woman glanced up briefly and let her eyes drift to the side.

„Woke up after a century in space and everyone I knew and cared for is probably dead. Other than that, I'm fine, thanks for asking.", she answered. Her tone had a mocking shade to it that was only tempered by her even greater depression and her clean cut british accent sounded even sharper. It certainly sounded unfriendly and under normal circumstances Mariam wouldn't had let it sit on her. But these weren't normal circumstances. Only a few months ago she snapped at Miranda and Jacob in a similiar manner, after she had woken up at the Cerberus facility. She hadn't been insulting, but neither had she been particularly nice.

„I'm sorry. I know how you must feel now...", the commanding officer said now. Nadira however only shook her head.

„Please! I need time to process this...take in what happened or did not happen." She raised a hand to wave off Sheard's concern. Mariam sighed at that. To some point she understood and she agreed that a period of silence would be best, but there were still the issues with the non-humans, and half of her crew was non-human.

„Allright.", Shepard nodded in agreement for the time being. „I assume you rather don't return to the med bay?", Mariam then asked and pointed with her thumb to the medical station behind her.

„If it's possible?", Nadira replied dryly.

„There will be no need." Dr. Chakwas just came out of said quarter and joined the conversation. Nadira now raised her eyes to the physician, slight regret radiating from the look.

„Doctor, I'm sorry, I...", she immediatly started to apologize. Dr. Chakwas made a waving motion with her hand to silence her.

„Don't beat yourself up over it, girl. I'm a military doctor, I had worse falls and hits.", Dr. Chakwas commmenetd. „What I wanted to say was, there is no need for you to stay in med bay. You are stable enough to let you have an ordinary room and in any case you stay close enough for me to examine you, as long as you stay on the ship."

„It's not like I have a choice at the moment.", Nadira muttered but Mariam still heard it.

„How about the Port Observation on the other side? It has a large couch that can also be used as a bed, an incredible view and is close to Dr. Chakwas in case of an emergency.", the commander reasoned.

„Whatever you choose is fine with me. I owe you my life and I can't afford to be picky.", Nadira replied and stood up momentarily, ready to follow Mariam wherever she might lead her. The commanding officer then didn't wait long either before she began to walk towards the elevator only to turn right in the last moment and into the corridor behind it. Shepard opened the room and made a gesture with her hand, that invited Nadira into the chamber. The younger woman paced around in the room and let her gaze wander upon the uncreative but very practical furniture. There was plenty of room, since nobody ever used it. It was discussed once to turn it into an amusement lounge for the crew during breaks, but Shepard barely had the oportunity refit it as such. So the only equipment in it were the large sleeping couch and a desk and chair somewhere in the far left corner of the room. An extranet console could be arranged easily and any time should she ever ask for it.

After Nadira appearantly had taken in her new environent she finally stopped before Mariam and bowed slightly."Thank you"

„No problem. Take all the time you need to figure things out.", Shepard said and knowingly left her plan that envolved introducing her to the rest of the crew tomorrow after breakfast, out of her last sentence.

The commander then did what she promised and left her protecteé to her thoughts.

* * *

Nadira stood still within the loveless room that now was hers. Like in the one she more or less broke in, there was a large window, alowing her to see the dark, melancholic beauty of space.

 _Huh! Space, how ironic!_

She remembered the last evening before the journey to the Nothern Water Tribe and wondered how it could all go so terribly wrong as it did. It felt only like yesterday that she stood at the balcony in the the modest room of the Eastern Air Temple. She had stared into the star frickled sky and thought the view had calmed her. Now she did the exact same thing, only that she wasn't only staring into the sky, she was actually within it. And it provoked every possible emotion within her, except for calm.

Nadira averted her eyes from the window. Mechanically she reached for the broad couch standing in the middle of the lonely room. Like a sack she dropped onto it and buried her face in her palms.

And she cried, cried so bitterly and devastatingly until her head hurt.

Cried the tears she had held back in the Air Temple before her departure.

Cried because Sifu Yuka, whom she once respected and trusted, could turn on her in such a lowly way.

Cried to mourn the death of Takashi and the deaths that followed certainly while she was locked away in a prison of ice.

Cried because she let her beloved mother die alone, certainly believing that she had lost her only daughter, because she let the woman down who sacrificed her precious youth to raise her to be a proper woman.

And finally cried too mourn the death of Monk Joseph, her mentor who had the most faith in her and her abilities, who belived her to be a great Avatar and she dissapointed him. And now he was gone, no chance for redemption or to apologize.

She cried loud and hard. Every emotion she had locked away now came forth as if released from a rusty, tiny cage. Oh, she certainly knew that whoever was outside could definitely hear her, but she didn't care.

She finally let it all out and it relieved her.

* * *

Shepard had just re-entered the mess hall when she heard the muffled voice of Nadira behind the doors. She wept and cried so loudly, Mariam almost wanted to return to the younger woman in a heartbeat but decided otherwise. She needed the time for exactly that, to process the situation, become aware of it. And naturally it hurt, waking up after a century in cryo to find everyone she cared for gone and herself not at home, certainly had to hurt.

So she let her be and proceeded on her way. She soon looked into the concerned face of Dr. Chakwas, who still stood in front of the med bay.

„The poor girl.", she mumbled

„Yeah, what a mess.", Shepard answered.

A head carefully peered out of the med bay's entrance, followed by a three fingered armored hand. Garrus examined the mess hall slowly until he was sure that it was safe enough.

„Can I come out now?", he asked and muffled his voice willingly.

„Yes, for now. She has locked herself in the Port Observation and is crying her eyes out." Like a demonstration the muffled, desperate cry of the younger woman washed over the deck.

„Oh, that sounds bad.", Garrus commented on the agonizing sounds.

„Agreed. But there isn't anything we can do right now to make it better.", Mariam waved off her turian crewmate. „By the way, how are you doing? Is the face okay."

„Well, it was one hell of a hit she gave me there. Sent my flying backwards and landing right in the middle of the main guns, with the bad side of my face leading the way. Good thing they weren't armed at the moment. But damn, that stung!"

„A few stitches re-opened but I took care of that. He should be as good as new, Commander.", Dr. Chakwas assessed.

Shepard sighed in relieve.

„That's good to hear. So now its simply back to work."

Garrus glared at her with those intense blue eyes of his. He came closer to her and pushed her into the direction of the main battery, gently but firm.

„Mariam.", he said still with the muffled voice. Her name sounded strangely pleasing from his mouth. Spoken in his subvocaled turian drool it had an aesthetic she always thought it lacked. Come to think of it, he rarely used her first name. On the Normandy SR1 it always was only 'Shepard', but after picking him up from Omega he began to adress her with her first name. Not always though, only in carefully chosen contexts.

„Is something the matter, Garrus?"

„You know, that hit, it was not normal, Shep-, Mariam."

„Garrus, I am Commander Shepard and this the Normandy. I don't remember a time where anything was ever normal on this ship."

„This is different. You saw me flying backwards, Mariam, and that was very real. But she actually didn't touch me."

Shepard's expression became sceptical, not because she agreed, but because what he just told her was perfectly normal.

„So she's a biotic. What about it?"

„That's exactly it, Mariam. She is _not_ a biotic. Whatever she used to hit me, was not biotic."

„And you know that because...?"

„I'm not stupid. I was hit by biotic attacks before and I know what they feel like. Once it gets a grip on you, nothing remains under control. Your reflexes are effectivly shut down and you feel that penetrating electric twitichng in your nerves, making it impossible to react in any proper way. You're a biotic, too, Mariam, you know how it is."

„And whatever hit you, was not electricly stinging you, I assume?"

„No, I was hit but without that feeling. You wanna know how it felt like? It felt like she hit me with wind. She did something and the air suddenly decided that it hated me and punched me backwards into the main battery."

Shepard eyed her favorite turian even more sceptically. Did he actually believe, what he was saying himself?

„Uh Garrus, maybe it would do you good if you lay down for a while. That calibrating sure drains at your strength.", she finally decided.

What Garrus told her sounded more like magic than logic. Air! The next thing she'll know he'd tell her that Nadira spitted fire. Mariam chuckled at the thought, a sound she had forgotten to conceal from the tall turian in front of her who of course noticed it.

„Oh I am glad that I seem to amuse you, Shepard, but I am still perfectly sane, thank you very much!"

Shepard. Back to formality again. Emberassed by her own carelessness she apologized.

„Sorry Garrus, really. I didn't mean to mock you. But certainly there must be a more plausible explanation to what you saw or felt."

„Shepard!"

„I don't mean that you lost your mind. All I am saying is, whatever she did to you took place very fast and left no room for thinking. Perhaps you were so knocked off that you simply confused things. That's normal, Garrus."

„I didn't confuse anything! I swear, by all the spirits that are holy to me, she blew me away, literally!"

„Okay, okay. Whatever it was, we are going to know only by tomorrow anyway. That is, if she wants to tell us."

„All right, Shepard. We will see. Now if you excuse me, the guns need a lot of re-calibrating after the show your findling pulled off earlier."

Garrus vanished behind the door of the main battery without further explanation and left Shepard with multiple sets of thought. Of course somewhere there was the thing about the wind, biotic, whatever. Her mind, however, constantly told her 'You are going to ask tomorrow.' The other thing was how Garrus adressed her.

Light joy had spawened within her, when he had used her first name. But as easily as it awakened, as equally easily it turned into dissapointment and it was even worse because it was her fault, she felt. She pissed him off and now he went back to formal distance. But then again, no one dared to use her first name. She called her crew by their first names as much as she wanted to, but nobody ever felt the necessaty to return the gesture.

Mariam sighed frustrated and made a mental note that she'd get her crew, who actually were friends to her, to use her first name.

Speaking of crew, she remembered she wanted to talk with Miranda once the issue with Nadira had been taken care of. Shepard paced to the office of the Cerberus agent and opened it without asking for permission. Miranda had resettled at her desk and glanced up.

„Commander.", she said dryly. She may had looked relaxed but she was still pissed about earlier.

„She has calmed down.", Shepard began. „Or at least I don't think she'll go rampaging through the ship any time soon."

„I still think it would be best if we dropped her somewhere safe and continued our mission without her."

„Miranda..."

„Commander, please think about it. She was in cryo for about a century. The math here is not diffifult. It means she was frozen in 2085, even before the Prothean ruins on Mars were discovered. Is it really a wonder that she freaked out when she saw Garrus? She never has seen an alien before! And you want her to go hunt Collectors with you?"

„I can only reapeat myself, Miranda. Your Illusive Man came up with this genius idea not me."

„Yes, I got that!", Miranda said a little too loud and finally stood up. She walked around the desk and came to stand right in front of her commanding officer.

„So you want to disobey. Well, everything does have a first time, does it?", Shepard couldn't quite hold herself back from mocking her.

„No. We are going to hand her over to Cerberus. The Illusive Man can see what he can do with her."

„Miranda, you know it's not only about this particular woman and the Illusive Man, don't you?"

„Of course I know. It would surprise me if you suddenly decided to pledge your loyalty to The Illusive Man. You never trusted him or us."

„No, Miranda. I don't trust Cerberus, but I am fine with the crew and you and Jacob."

Miranda glared at her with her icey blue eyes. She eminated a cold aura towards everyone, causing them to think her unaproachable or cold hearted or both. It didn't have the desired effect on Shepard though. She didn't answere and after a while in which Shepard decided the other woman wasn't going to answer any time soon either she took the initiative.

„I actually wanted to talk about your general attitude Miranda. You always seem so.."

„Cold, even ruthless. Maybe. I hear that a lot Shepard and I don't care. I just get the job done."

„On every cost?"

„Certain sacrifices are sometimes necessary."

„You don't really think that."

That wasn't a question, it was a statement. With a mix of amusement and guilt resulting from it, she watched Miranda's expression change from collected and cold into angry and irritated.

„What is this about Shepard? If I wanted a psychological chit-chat I'd go to Ms. Chambers!"

„You know, it's okay to be human once in a while."

„And will being human stop the reapers? We can't play Mother Theresa with every poor bastard who comes across our way. Our mission takes top priority."

„You are doing it again."

„What?"

„Pretending not to care. You are not like that, Miranda."

„And what makes you think that? On every mission you have taken me with you, I never cared for anything other than the mission's success."

„Your sister.", Shepard commented dryly and crossed her arms in front of her chest, while she leaned casually at the wall next to her. Miranda opened her mouth to say something and closed it again. A deep frown now decorated her face before she collected herself once more.

„What does my sister have to do with this?"

„Your father wants her for his dynasty, right?"

„Yes."

„He wouldn't do that if you hadn't run away. He wouldn't have created your sister in the first place. Because he would have what he wanted.. But you didn't play along and when he saw that he couldn't get you back he just restarted his project with your sister. But you didn't let that happen either."

„I don't see the point, Commander."

„If you really didn't care, Miranda, then you wouldn't want your sister safe from your father. Because let's face it, if you let him have her, he would leave you alone for the rest of your life. Isn't that the most efficient way to deal with the problem, Miranda?"

„I...that's not the same..."

„It is. You are not the cold hearted bitch you believe yourself to be. You're better then that."

Miranda averted her gaze and looked everywhere but to Shepard. It was obvious that she was looking for a counter argument, anything to brush the statement off as incorrect but she couldn't.

„Just think about it for now. I'll leave you to your work."

„Yes, Commander."

„Please, it's Mariam."

Finally, Miranda did look up. Her expression was stern as it was clear that she fought to hide any emotion. Of course she did not like what was happening. More so because she is the one being wrong this time. Shepard grinned triumphantly and was about to leave when EDI's voice stopped her.

„Commander. The Illusive Man wishes to speak with you in the debriefing room."

„Thanks, EDI. I'll be on my way.", Shepard replied. She turned to Miranda tentively, still grinning slightly. „You want to come along?"

Miranda only nodded and followed Shepard out of her office.

* * *

In the debriefing room the table in the middle sank into the floor as usual and Shepard and Miranda looked at the Illusive's Man familiar projection on the communication platform, as always with the cigarette in his right hand.

„Shepard. I hear the retrievel was a success.", was how he opened the conversation

„If you mean by success the woman we got out of the ice? Yes it was successfull."

„Brilliant. What's her status?", he asked in response. An unaccustomed tone of joy and excitement resonated from his voice. He seemed to enjoy this way too much.

„Wait!", Miranda intervened now. „Sir, please pardon my bluntness but I have to insist that that woman does not become part of the mission!"

„I'm listenung, Ms. Lawson." He stared at Miranda with his creepy glowing eyes and puffed a cloud of nicotine into the air. His voice turned cold in a heart beat but still had that gandpa-theme to it. He did not say anything anymore, his expression was hard to read. He simply sat there and waited. It was to some degree intended to eminate dominace and to intimidate. Shepard easily understood that. Almost every superior officer in the military resorted to that method of body language. Making your opposite feel like a kid that messed up horribly. Only, if you had spent years in the service you eventually got used to it. So Shepard wasn't impressed by his display but could swear that she saw Miranda wince slightly.

The Cerberus officer straightned up visibly.

„Sir, the retrieved subject is agressive and unpredictable. She displayed abilities that could not be explained logically, making her dangerous to the crew and to the success of the mission. I recomend turning her in for studies at one of our research facilities.", she proposed clinically.

„Hm.", he replied at that. He sucked at his cigarette once more, exhaling the fumes from his mouth and out of his nostriles. „What is your opinion on this matter, Shepard?", he then asked. A quick glance over to Miranda revealed a horrified look on her face. Reconsidering the few passed minutes, Shepard also easily concluded why she looked like an anaconda crept up her back right now. His 'Hm' wasn't a sign of simple understanding. By immediatly involving Shepard and asking for her view on the situation, it was evident that he did not agree with Miranda, to put it lightly. Shepard turnd away from Miranda and focused instead on her smoking benefactor.

„The 'subject's' name is Nadira.", Shepard began and waved quotation marks around the subject purposefully. „Since we have found her up to the point where she regained conciousness all evidence hints that she survived for a century in an iceberg. Questions remain on how she did it, but she did and it is at least witness of an incredible potential in my opinion. Furthermore she displayed abilities that resemble biotics but according to my collegue they weren't."

„What was is it then, if not biotic?", he asked then, while the question itself and the tone hinted that he already knew of the misfortunated encounter. Again excitement vibrated in his voice but this time also something else. _Impatience?_ If so, it was certainly something to be aware of, given his seemingly eternal calm.

Shepard shot Miranda a quick glance before she answered. The muscles around the woman's jaw had visibley tightened and the rest of her body was denser than usual, as if she was holding herself back from strangulating the next best target.

„According to Garrus, it was wind but we still don't know the specifics. It could also be something entirely different and the wind is just a side effect."

The Illusive Man sucked at his cigarette one more time and squeezed it into the ashtray next to him. He exhaled the last remains of the nicotine and smiled broadly.

„Excellent." This was his second explicit demonstration of his approval. He wasn't entirely honest to them, and given his reputation and niche of work it was no surprise. For the sake of her own and her crew's well being, however, she'd rather know that what he didn't wanted them to know.

„You actually want to tell us what you know? Give us the whole background story of this issue or do I have to find out from the back door?"

He chuckled quitely. „I have done a lot of researches, Shepard but I won't lie to you. I have theories about her but I am not entirely sure if they are accurate or not. So I will not feed you promises that may turn out to be just wishful thinking from my side. However I will tell you this:

That woman, Shepard, might be humanity's greatest weapon and the solving key to the Reaper threat."

„You don't actually believe that!",was Miranda's harsh reaction, At that the Illusive Man's expression quickly closed down again, His gaze became ice cold and calculating and he regarded Miranda with a look that might as well had torn her apart. His sudden mood swings were truely fascinating.

„I ask of you that you keep your sharp tongue at bay, Ms. Lawson."

„Yes, sir. My apologies.

He returned his attention to Shepard now.

„That woman, what did you call her?"

„Nadira."

„Right. I'll clear you a funding specifically meant for her needs. Food, clothes, gear, weapons, whatever she needs and you see fit. In return you try to win her trust. Find out who she is and what her powers are, Shepard."

Shepard nodded only. As if she didn't already decided to do exactly that.

„Good. I wish you luck, Shepard."

He didn't wait for a response. She saw the projection push a button and the image vanished in sizzling sounds. She and Miranda stepped away from the communication platform and the table immediatly rose at the place where they just had been standing.

„So, you still not okay with our newest crew member?", she asked Miranda. The question was purely rethorical. She already knew the answer but she still hoped Miranda, would at least resort to a sort of professionalism like 'I don't like the idea, but if it helps with the mission I'll cooperate.' or something that way. To her own slight surprise she didn't though. Instead she muttered several curses under her breath that Shepard didn't identify entirely and stormed off the debriefing room.

„Unbelievable...just unbelievable.", the Cerberus operative hissed again and again, before the door closed behind her. If it was an old fashioned, manually opening door, she sure would had slammed it. This was still going to be a lot of fun...not.

* * *

At some point in that dull, cold chamber Nadira had simply fallen asleep. She had cried a lot, and while many painful realitazitions had hit her at once she also had felt relieved, because she finally had gotten to express all of it freely, without any duties or priorities calling for her emotional stability. Then Dr. Chakwas had come in to examine her. She had ckecked her vital functions, taken blood pressure, measured her body temperature and had smiled in satisfaction when she had told her that those were fine so far. She then had checked a few spots on her body, at the back and the ribbs specifically. She had applied pressure on them and asked how it felt, if it hurt and then had explained that she had contusions and minor fractures she appearantly had had already fixed with a chemical called medigel. Nadira hadn't been interested in how that actually worked. It was enough for her to know that she wouldn't have further problems from it in the near future and when she had studied the spots herself with two hand mirrors held by her and Dr. Chakwas to also see the ones on the back, she had noticed with astonishment that the cuts for the surgery had been barely visible. Whatever that medigel was, it sure did a damned good job. Finally the elderly woman had taken blood samples for analysis. „You look exhausted.", at some point she had told her. „You shouldn't burden your digestive system with heavy meals, however, a vegetable soup will do just fine for now."

„I don't feel hungry.", Nadira had replied, at which the medic had simply snapped. „Nonsense! Your blood sugar is beneath your socks. I'll have Mess Sergeant Gardner bring you some soup." And so it had happened. The man who earlier had had given her the tea, now had brought the soup and Nadira had actually managed to eat all of it.

The next morning or whatever that was called in space, she awakened. She didn't recognize the environment at first but quickly remembered the past events. A basic feel of general discomfort found its place in her gut and she deliberately tried to ignore it. Letting her bad mood dragg her down wasn't going to get her anything after all.

Nadira looked down at her body and found that she was still clothed in the white and black unform Commander Shepard had given her. It wasn't pretty and she was going to change it as soon as she had the chance, she decided.

That was when the door slid open and the Commander herself stepped into the quarter.

„Had a good night rest?", she greeted her, trying to keep the mood light from the very beginning.

„You offered me shelter and I am not going to complain. Whatever discomfort I felt was eminating from my own self, not you. I will get used to it." Though Nadira meant it to be an apology to the commander, whose ship she nearly had torn apart, it still sounded shallow to her own ears and she got the impression it was more of a lip service towarded to her own self. Part of her still thought of the fuss she had made to be perfectly just.

„Uh, glad to hear?", Shepard said, obviously not knowing how to react.

„Is something the matter?", Nadira then asked.

„I know I said I would let you take your time but I hope you made enough sense of your situation that you are ready for knowing the crew."

„But you actually don't have the time?"

„Right to the point, are we? But it's best if you could get to know the crew as soon as possible. There are a lot of things in the galaxy that you need to be prepared for." The commander stepped closer and made open palmed gestures while she talked. Open body language. A subtle sign to make her understand that she was welcome.

Nice transition, as well.

„Is it about that strange creature from yesterday?" Nadira still remembered it all too clearly. The predatory eyes, the mandibles, the sharp teeth. It didn't look exactly horrific, but she didn't kow how to lable it any other way, so her instincts had just told her to run.

„That strange creature has a name.", Shepard replied and Nadira couldn't help but make out the offended tone.

„Uh, sorry.", the young Avatar said and rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

„I can't hold it against you though. You've never seen a turian after all." Back to comprehensive and sympathetic now.

„Turian? Is that what the cr...these people are called?"

„Yes and there are other species roaming across the galaxy. Some of them are part of the crew, so you need to get to know them."

Oh, good lord, this is only getting better by the minute.

„So we're having a big introduction circle?"

„If that's what you like to call it? Though before you get a lesson on xenobiology we two will be getting to know eachother first. That is if you are willing. Care to join me for a little sparring down in the cargo bay?" Shepard's tone changed to casual camaraderie, trying to win her trust by implying possible friendship.

„Sparring, really? Am I even alowed to move so extensively?"

„I asked Dr. Chakwas first, of course. Half an hour is okay, in her opinion and I wasn't planning to go beyond that limit anyway."

„Surely, there is a better way to introduce ourselves properly." Fighting someone in order to get to know them better was odd to Nadira, but she still found it better than those awful introduction circles, she often had had to participate in when she had arrived to a new place back on Earth.

 _Back on Earth._ Odd to even think that.

„As for your name, I already know that. I was hoping to get a picture of your skills."

 _Wait a damned second!_ Getting an impressions of her fighting skills? If Nadira didn't know any better, the Commander sounded like she wanted to recruit her to the crew. The light friendliness suddenly made sense.

„Commander, you sound like you want to keep me on the ship permenantly. I could be mistaken, but I'm not sure if that is wise."

„Sort of. Okay here is the thing, Nadira: I am leading a high risk military operation and I am assembling a team for that. Only the best of the best. My, uh, employer iniatially found out about you and sent me to investigate. He believes, that you hold a great potential. I want to know if that is true. If you are really as powerful as he believes than you would be a valuable addition to the team. And a factor that increases the chances of surviving the operation."

To that Nadira had no idea how to respond. Just like that Shepard just threw all this infromation at her and it was a hard bit to swallow. Slowly she processed her new found knowledge. So she had been locked away in an ice prison and everybody had forgotten about her for about a century. But then someone finally had the glorious idea that she might had been not dead. _What an impressive speed of relization._ , she thought. But given the fact that at the end of the twenty-first century people didn't care as much about the Avatar as back in the day, probably no one had noticed that the cycle hadn't continued. As she thought, her own mind made click and Nadira reviewed the conversations she had had so far with the Commander. Eventhough the Avatar simply hadn't held as much importance anymore and bending had become more of a secondary sport thing due to technological advancment, people still tended to appreciate the gift within themselves and others. When she first introduced herself however Shepard and Dr. Chakwas had the face expressions of main stream schoolgirls who were bewildered by the nerdiness of their weird classmate. And they wanted to check her brain for permanent damage, namely at the mere mentioning of airbending.

Panic once again nudged at her awareness. What had been happening during her absence and in what dimension? Had the people simply forgotten about the ancient art? But then there was this ominous employer. Shepard apperantly held a military rank and seemed to see herself as such, shown by the term 'military operation' instead of simply 'mission', which wasn't exclusive to military tasks. But if she were in the military wouldn't she talk about her superior officer instead of an 'employer'? And this employer seemed to have a clue that she was the Avatar but wasn't entirely sure about it? Instead he or she fed Shepard only vague information, not lying but not being entirely honest either, leaving no space for big empty promises. It would certainly fit. A basically suicide mission almost cried for the intervention of the oh-so-mighty Avatar. Nadira wanted to chuckle darkly at the last thought but kept quiet. She still was not certain how far she would trust any of this to reveal her true identity. Especially that 'employer' seemed shady and entirely too untransparent. And Nadira didn't like shady and untransparent.

„You're telling me that you want me to be part of a suicide mission and you expect me to accept that? Just like that? What if Idon't want to?", Nadira finally confronted the Commander.

„And where would you go and how? Whoever you knew back on Earth is probably dead by now. Besides, I am the commanding officer of this ship. I set he courses for its journey, which means I decide where we go and when we go. And unless you want to test your survival odds in space I suggest you cooperate, at least for now."

 _Ouch!_ That was one hell of a kick she manueverd to her stomach, at least on a mental level. And the worst of it was, Shepard was probably right.

„Wow, you always this sentimental when you want to win a new crewmember?"

The Commander sighed then,

„Nadira, please. I don't like to play the mean girl, usually. But viewed on a realistic level, you have to admit that I am right, eventhough I know how much it has to hurt right now.", she paused briefly and smiled sympathetically. „Listen, all I am saying is, let's test your skills and then we can still decide if you become part of the main mission. I'll see what you can do and if you are not what we think you are, we'd arrange a flight back to Earth. No obligations at the moment. What do you say?"

Shepard offered her a hand and Nadira accepted the gesture and shook it.

„All right, kiddo. Let me show you how we used to distribute good punches back in my day."

Nadira still had no idea how she would go on with her life, but turning her very, very long absence into a joke made it at least easier to accept it.


	4. Chapter 4: A new perspective

**Chapter 4: A new perspective**

 _In a review I recieved from_ _matthewavaughan1998_ _there were questions regarding the time line of this story, of which I think is important for the understanding of everyone who reads it. So these questions will be answered here, instead of in a private message. So if you want to know that back ground info and happen to have the same questions then go on and read it. If you do not care for the back ground of the story and you are fine with the explanation 'because the plot demands it' then skip the following segment and jump directly to the chapter beneath it._

 _ **Merging of the real world and the Avatar world:**_

 _The question was basically at which point the Avatar world and our real world have merged, since I already pointed out and I am also writing it that way, that I would go for a mix of both._

 _My answer would be after Kuvira's defeat which I have set in the 1920s, since fashion and technological advancement is very close to those of our 20s period, which was also explained by Bryke themselves. The further political developement of the world could have than taken place like the following:_

 _The Earthkingdom is, as seen on the Avatar-worldmap a vastly large continent, to some degree united under the rule of the Earthmonarch. However just because the continet has officially a single leader doesn't mean that the_ _whole_ _continent actually shares the same cultures. In fact, in many points of the series itself it has been mentioned that the people of the Earthkingdom are diverse and thus different from eachother. Given the sheer size of the kingdom it is actually no surprise. Some places even are sovereign kingdoms, like Omashu, or don't acknowledge the rule of the Earthmonarch as shown in the forth book of LOK, when the Earthqueen sent Korra and Asami to collect her taxes but the towns people refused to pay them. It is also almost doubtless that the people didn't immediatly establish the Earthkingdom as one unified region. I think the continent consisted originally of several nations and kingdoms who thrived on their own (e.g. Chin the conquerer and the founding of Kyoshi as an independent island by Avatar Kyoshi namely) and it may have taken several wars and contracts to finally establish one unified nation, though there are exceptions (again, Omashu). So in conclusion there must be a large variety of cultural and national identities in the Earthkingdom and after Prince Wu stepped down as the new Earthking this large single nation simply dissolved, leaving the people free to establish their own countries, cultures and even languages (though in Avatar everyone seems to speak the same language, which may only be a universal common tongue that doesn't preclude other regional dialects, although not heared in the serie). As the now former Earthkingdom is located at the eastern side of the world map, I'd like to think of it as the continents Eurasia (Europe and Asia), Africa and Australia. This kind of change, the fall of the firm authority of the Earthmonarch natrually causes instability. Fascism didn't die with Kuvira's failure. Other fascist regimes were born, oberhelming the new and young leaderships with their nationalist, racist ideas, that aren't weighed down by the doctrine of the Earthkingdom anymore. One of them happens to be a country, located in the central west of the former Earthkingdom, calling itself Germany under the leadership of the ruthless and charismatic Adolf Hitler. This would mean, also as an answer to this question, from that point on that WWII did happen more or less according to our real history books. So the battle at the Normandy did take place and Shepard's Normandy SR1 and 2 could be named after that battle. Avatar Korra was then of course present and did her best to stop the escalation. but it figures that there is only so much one can do against atomic bombs, even as an Avatar. The next question that inevitably follows is of course, how the USA could then form in this changed runthrough of history._

 _With Germany's agressions and ecenomic instability resulting from the Earthkingdom's desolution a wave of refugees broke loose. Many people just fled to neighboring countries but a lot of other went as far away from the new dictatorship as possible, namely to the Fire Nation. Now also here I doubt that everyone had the same culture or language. Instead they were unified by the rule of the Firelord and his formerly totalitary reign. This political model already started to change when Zuko became the new Firelord and is now further weakened by the arrival of new refugees, and with them new ideas, like democracy. So what happens next is clear: as the royal family of the Fire Nation is no unreasonable bunch of lunatics anymore, they see the necessity of change for their country and step down as the rulers of the nation, granting the people the freedom to decide on their own on their new government. The result is a seperation of the north and the south. The south becomes latin America, as well with dozens of different nations. The north forms the USA, still unfying the majority of the continent but permitting themselves to keep their diversity to some degree. And in the far north another nation developes which then becomes known as Canada._

 _And from there on everything becomes almost identical to our real life history. Yeah, I know, the american continents are actually larger than the Fire Nation of Avatar. It is inaccurate, but I don't want to write another two-universes-connected-through-a-magical-portal-story, so just imagine the Fire Nation being larger than the actual depiction in the Avatar-worldmap._

 _As a result we have WWII, that happened almost the same as we know it and since 1945 global politics and development proceeded as we know it, resulting in the shapes of society and conflicts that we observe today._

 _ **Bending and technological advancement:**_

 _Another question forwarded to me was 'How could the people forget bending? Wouldn't it be a solid part of society and the base for many technological advancements?" Well that is one way, it could be but it doesn't have to._

 _In my personal headcanon the progress technology took started to change after Korra defeated the Equalists. Now what they had in mind was certainly not ideal but it made one problem clear in the Avatarverse: the inequality of benders and non-benders. Many jobs require bending abilities to be performed properly which leads to a significant limit to what a non-bender can do. Discrimination would continue if the people depended on bending too much. After the Equalists' coup attempt however, the people saw that there has to be a change, in order to demolish ideas like the ones of the Equalists'. Non-benders must not feel discriminated because of what they can't do. So technological advancement and the developement of society went into a direction where bending wouldn't be necessarily needed. It sure is still nice and handy, but you would not have to be a bender to be a good police officer or a soldier. There are now guns for that, which are also the reason why Korra couldn't quite prevent the outbreak of a worldwar. You can be as talented as you want, you'd still be pierced to shreds by a gun while you are still dancing in circles only to produce a surge of fire. Also basing everything on bending alone would lead to an inevitable stagnation of advancement. Humans are humans, they are not machines and make mistakes and are slower, and so on and so forth. I would find it extremely counter productive if firebenders were put into the rocket engines to light the fuel for the take off. It is dangerous and ineffective. Also humans naturally strive to make life as easy and effortless as possible. Bending is actually a lot of effort to get something going, considering that whole dance performances are required, so some people would of course think of ways to avoid that effort. So you see, technological development can indeed push bending away as its basis, making it more and more of a sport talent than a way and necessaty of life._

 _As to why the people forgot about bending and the spirits one hundred years after Yuka got rid of Nadira. Well, let me say this much: they didn't exactly forget, they rather_ _were_ _forgotten, if you catch my meaning. But I am not giving away any further information than that since it is part of my personal plot and if you want to find out why and how that happened you have no other choice than to stick around. :)_

 _ **Mentions of religions and their place in Avatar:**_

 _In the following chapters there might be mentions of some religions, most notably the three abrahamic religions, as well as Hinduism and Budhism. After I said that the Avatar world and the real world only merged after Korra defeated Kuvira, some may argue now that these religions couldn't possibly develope. I think however it may still be possible. In the whole series of Avatar we don't actually get an impression of religious beliefs of the people, as they simply weren't important. And the belief in spirits isn't actually religious, it isn't even a belief as their extistecne is actually a matter of fact for the people in Avatar. Religion however, is in my opinion, mostly a way to deal with the origins of humanity and death. It attempts to solve where we come from, why we live and what happens, after our souls leave their mortal bodies. The spirits don't do that and the spirit world doesn't seem to be the final destination for the human soul. Sure, Iroh was there, after he died and Zhao was wandering there too. But Iroh was an exeption. Korra found him residing there after his death, because he chose to do so and Zhao is found in the Fog of Lost Souls, because the Ocean Spirit locked him there after he attempted to kill the moon and since Tenzin, Kya and Bumi almost got lost there as well, it means you actually don't have to be dead in order to be imprisoned there. So again, we have no information regarding the people's religious beliefs in the Avatarverse. So I think it could be possible that our known religions could have developed in the background. But like in the original Avatar series my mentions of religion here and there will be brief and don't hold actual importance for the plot but I felt it was necessary to explain this._

* * *

After Commander Shepard more or less talked Nadira into a sparring match, the Avatar had followed her to the mess hall where Mess Sergeant Gardner already had stood ready and prepaired them a light breakfast:

slices of dark bread, arranged next to a small plate with butter, plates with cheese, salami, ham, turkey breast and bacon, vegetables, mostly tomatoes, sweet peppers and curcuma and small bowls of fruit salads or plates of seperate pieces.

Nadira as a vegetarian had grabbed two slices of bread, spread butter on each of them and finalized them with a slice of cheese each, while she observed Shepard picking a few slices of turkey breast for her own. Of course there were also several sorts of breakfast tea and coffee. It was a well balanced buffet for the crew, clearly meant to give them the necessary energy to work but still to be healthy at the same time.

„Looks like you are doing better today.", the Mess Sergeant opened up the conversation. Nadira lifted her gaze to him and swallowed her bite, before she formed the words in her now empty mouth.

„Yes...I had time to...reconsider."

„That's good to hear.", he grinned widely. Nadira was of course still far from feeling well, but at least she had survived the outbreak of the initial shock from yesterday. It would still take her time, though, to truly accept her new environment. She took another look at the buffet deciding what she would pick up next from the fruits, arranged on seperate plates, and blinked rapidly when she didn't recognize some of them.

Slices of a thing that had the shape of a heart and was purple in colour or pink grape-like fruits, long in shape, like tiny cukes. Next to them were small bowls of turquois and orange jelly masses and many, many other foods unknown to her.

„Something wrong?", Commander Shepard asked, who probably noticed the long pause and staring on the food. Nadira quickly snapped out of her wonder. „It's just...What is this?", she asked and pointed to the strange dishes. Shepard's hazel eyes followed the pointing finger and tilted her head understandingly. „Those are alien foods, you know, for the non-humans on board. Don't eat those purple hearts or the blue jelly. Those are turian dishes and toxic to you.", the commander explained. _Turian dishes_. So that...person from yesterday would soon be here too. „It's still too early. He usually comes out for breakfast at 07:00.", Shepard said again. Nadira could only guess how worried her face must had become, though she didn't want it to be. Only then her brain processed the time information. „What time do we have?", she then asked. „It's 06:00 am ship time now.", the other woman answered. „I normally don't wake up that early.", Nadira remarked. „Ship time is different from planetary and station time anyway. You'll get used to it. Though you also went to bed pretty early yesterday.", Shepard replied. Nadira narrowed her eyes at the commander now. „And how would you know that? You spying on me?", she asked suspisciously. Naturally there would be cameras installed, but that she would take the time to watch her until she fell asleep...

Shepard however didn't answer this time, it was another voice instead, steely and clinical and without a body, as if artificially created.

„Commander Shepard requested updates on your status during the evening, Nadira.", it told her.

„What the...?", the Avatar hissed.

„Uh...Nadira? May I introduce EDI to you?", Shepard said slightly nervous.

„EDI?", Nadira inquired.

„The ship's AI. She basically regulates everything regarding its functionality from the defense systems to waste reclamation and life support.", Shepard answered.

„I also file reports concerning the mission's progress to the Illusive Man.", EDI added.

„Uh-huh..", Nadira only remarked. Was this this _Illusive Man_ the employer Shepard had talked about? If so, even his name was shady and untransparant. Clearly he didn't want to be known and that intially didn't mean anything good.

„My employer.", Shepard now gave the sober information. _Bingo_. Doubts grew about wether Nadira even wanted to consider to stay on the ship or not. She had no wish to work for a potential criminal, who would waltz every responsibilty on them if anything went wrong. Nadira knew how it worked. This _Illusive Man_ would then simply dissappear and deny all involvement as a person, leaving them hanging to dry out for him, while he slipped away from justice. _What a deep fall, Avatar._ , she thought cynicly.

„And you trust an AI on life support and defense. Isn't that a bit dangerous.", Nadira questioned now. An Artificial Inetlligence, really!? To her it was a thing from sci-fi movies and usually evil and with aspirations for godhood. Not that Nadira was really into sci-fi.

„So far we are still breathing.", Shepard replied.

„I do not have a benefitial interest in the demise of the crew. My functionality is restricted to maintenance only, leaving me unable to fly the ship on my own. I am also not able to repair engine failures. An intact crew is therefore uncompromisable to ensure my own survival.", the AI explained herself now. The voice still toneless and steely. It came out of a loudspeaker somewhere, since there wasn't a visible source for it.

„I assume you see and hear everything on this ship, right?", Nadira concluded out loud. How else would it know her name?

„That is correct. I registered your name during multiple conversational exchanges with Dr. Chakwas and Commander Shepard. If you wish to be refered to otherwise, you may say so.", EDI suggested.

Nadira exhaled silently and answered:

„No, it's okay. You may continue to call me by my first name."

„Very well. Should you need further information about the ship or my competencies you may ask me whenever you see convenient.", the AI informed her now.

„I will. Thank you.", Nadira said flatly.

„Enjoy your meal.", EDI told her and fell silent momentarily.

„You okay.", Shepard asked her while she turned to face her with a slightly concerned expression on her face.

„I will need a lot of time to get used to the AI.", the Avatar began. „But there are still other, more astonishing things for me to discover in the coming days. If I lose it now, I'll die of a stroke when I see the aliens.", she ended her general impression of the conversation.

„Yeah, that is a convenient attitude, I guess. But you should see Joker. He is still not okay that EDI is more or less his co-pilot."

„Joker?" Unwillingly the image of a green haired, insane clown with messed up make-up came to her mind. Nadira shook the thought away quickly. It certainly had just to be a nickname, hopefully not for his lack of sanity.

„Our pilot. You should meet him, some time soon.", Shepard then clarified. Nadira nodded slowly as she recieved the information. So luckily, no insane clown in the cockpit. Then something else came to her mind.

„Didn't it just say that it doesn't do piloting?"

„Well, she doesn't. But she constantly tells him how he should or should not fly the Normandy and Joker believes himself – and he probably is – to be the best pilot in the whole galaxy. You can imagine how he feels about a computer talking into his work."

At that moment they heard the doors of the elevator bay flinging open and steps approaching them. The two women turned around to see who would peer around the corner shortly. A dark skinned, tall man entered the mess hall. He wore a black and white jumpsuit, revealing the well muscled body underneath. His dark hair was shaved short and a thin mustache and a beard at his chin were visible.

„Jacob. Good morning.", the commander greeted friendly.

„Good morning, Commander.", he returned in an american accent. „And uh...", he then said as he turned to face Nadira.

„I should introduce you first. Nadira, this is Jacob Taylor. A very capable soldier and responsible for our weaponary.", she introduced her to the man and gestured into his direction. Nadira bowed slightly to him. „Nice to meet you.", she said shortly before the commander proceeded in the introduction.

„And Jacob, this is Nadira. The woman we picked up at the North Pole a week ago."

„Ah yes, I remember. The pleasure is mine.", he said and offered a hand to shake. Nadira accepted it and tried to smile a bit. Jacob then went on to the buffet and helped himself to the food. „Commander..", he then began a new conversation. „Yes?", she answered.

„I recieved those new upgrade schematis for your pistol and the submachine gun. Should be done by afternoon today. That pistol will still have one shot per round but that shot will punch right through their armour without mercy, Commander. And the submachine gun will be significantly steadier when you pull that thing out to rain your enemies in fire.", he assessed and took a bite of a pork salami bread.

„That's good to hear. Good work, Jacob.", she told him and finished her own bread. Meanwhile Nadira only had observed the exhange while she piled a few fruits she knew on her plate and ate them. She, of course, had absolutley no idea about fire arms. Nadira never even held a toy pistol in her hand, so she just kept silent and hoped secretly that it would stay that way. She thought she did enough damage with bending already, thank you very much.

Another door slid open and it was the one right behind the mess kitchen, where Gardner was busy with preparing more food for the rest of the crew who would demand their breakfast in the coming few hours. The woman, who yesterday threatened her with the gun, called Miranda by Shepard, if she remembered correctly, stepped out. Expression blank on her face but a deep frown appeared on it as soon as she saw Nadira.

„Hey, look who wants to join us. Good morning, Miranda." It was Jacob who greeted her teasingly. Clearly they had a history with eachother as the familiar tone of the man suggested. „Good morning.", Miranda replied dryly and took a plate from the pile next to the buffet. She put slices of bread, fruites and vegetables on it, poured herself a pepermint tea and was about to return from where she came. Jacob stopped her however, before she reached her door.

„Hey, wait. You don't wanna sit with us?". He asked irritated. „No, Jacob, I'm not in the mood. Commander.", she prompted and dissapeared behind her door.

„What is _her_ issue exactly?", Nadira asked now, slightly annoyed. It was no hard guess to see that the woman obviously disliked her and Nadira knew that she hadn't been on her best behaviour yesterday, but to be really this upset? Avoiding her entirely went a bit too far, for her taste.

„You did quite the ramapage yesterday, though.", Jacob said and took a sip from his coffee cup. „Yeah..sorry about that, but...", Nadira attempted to justify herself. „Nah, don't worry about it, I barely cought wind of it up there, if Miranda didn't whine my ears full of it.", he reassured her and pointed above. „But Miranda is...just Miranda. She'll come around eventually.", he said now and smiled at Nadira. She decided that Jacob was a pretty decent guy. He seemed like a man who would rather end a fight than start it, not holding grudges forever. It was hard not to like him actually. „Thank you, Jacob.", Nadira said now and genuinely smiled back at him and finished the last bits of her fruits.

„Now. You ready for our little sparring session?", Shepard reminded her with a pat on the shoulder. A look on the table revealed that she already had eaten up. Nadira swallowed the last sips of her tea and nodded. „Let's do it." They stood up and were about to walk to the elevator bay. Jacob got up as well and locked his dark eyes on Nadira. „I'm looking forward to working with you. Welcome aboard the Normandy.", he said encouragingly. Nadira opened her mouth to say something but her voice wasn't quite in the mood to play along. Of course he couldn't knew that she may had other plans. Luckily the pause didn't spread to an uncomfortable silence when Shepard took the word. „We are still seeing about that.", she said shortly and dragged her off.

* * *

Mariam had sensed the discomfort of Nadira when Jacob had welcomed her aboard the ship. She didn't want to be unfriendly, so she had quickly answered for her and removed her from the sticky situation. Shepard gently directed her guest into the elevator and pushed the button on the console for the shuttle bay. After a few seconds the doors reopned again and they entered the almost empty room (except for the shuttles and the M44-Hammerhead). It was easily big enough that they could move and manuever freely without being afraid of damaging fragile and expensive equipment.

„Allright...", the commander said while she pulled off the black and white pullover, leaving her upper body only covered by a sport bra. Mariam found that she moved better and more efficiently without the thick fabric hindering her. Also she tended to sweat quickly.

„...this won't be a hard training session, but I will attack you and I want you to go out all 100% on me. No holding back, I want to see what you are capable of." There was of course the risk of injury. But hell, Shepard's whole job consisted of being shot at and surviving. She could take a few punches.

„Very well...", the younger woman answered calmly. „...but don't blame me if I break you something." Mariam's lips quirked up unconciously. She laughed shortly and turned back with a smug smirk. „Talking big won't win you this, Nadira.", she replied and put an extra portion of self confidence and provocation into her tone. She saw how Nadira positioned herself in front of her, a 3 or 4 meters distance between them and readied herself for the encounter. Her knees dropped slightly and her arms stretched in front of her body, open palms facing her directly, ready to block the attacks. The black and white Cerberus sweat shirt stayed where it was. She either was very modest or it was a trust issue, not willing to reveal herself to someone she basically didn't know. Without a warning Mariam made the first hit. She quickly closed in on her, clenched her right fist and aimed for the face. Nadira surprisingly, reacted swiftly. She cought Shepard's fist with one of her open palms and redirected it to the ground. The next hit she cought as well, dove then underneath and attempted to get the commander off her feet with a round kick. For a moment Mariam was impressed and stunned. The movements of the other woman were swift and cought into eachother cleanly. They were certainly long practiced, like a liquid dance choreography, though sluggish sometimes. Probably because she hadn't moved like that in a century. She cought herself in the right moment, avoiding the round kick of Nadira with a jump. Mariam landed and Nadira came up again. As soon as Shepard hit the ground she went straightly for a kick herself and again Nadira was quick enough to avoid it. She didn't catch it though, instead she evaded the attack with a circular movement. A mistake, Shepard thought. It left her whole upper body open and vulnurable. She decided to take her chance and opted immediatly for another attack, aiming for the stomach this time. But yet again Nadira evaded the move, diving down backwards and rolling away. Shepard moved in on her, now becoming slightly jumpy. Nadira was clearly in the defensive and did not attack. Normally Shepard would think to have an advantage when her opponent only attampted to get away from her. However Nadira had a hell of a defense. When she moved it looked like she deflected her without even the hint of effort. The woman from the ice jumped up immediatly, catching another of Shepards punches. This time however she had her arm in her firm grip and pulled her down on it. At the same time she felt the pressure highten on her head while she saw her jump up at her side. _Wait she is not going to..._ , the thought dawned on her as quickly as it happened. Nadira let go of the arm, making sure to let the commander fall, while she used her back as a ramp to jump from it, putting an extra amount of strength into the push of her leggs and the unavoidable happened. Shepard fell on the ground, hard and without support. Only in the last second she managed to bring her arms between her and the ground. She still hit pretty heavily, but at least she didn't have to kiss her face goodbye. Suddenly she knew how Garrus must had felt yesterday. _The scars have just healed..._

Half expecting the next hit she lifted herself up to face her opponent. Nadira didn't attack. She visibly readied herself for the next move but waited patiently until Mariam was on her feet and ready to go again.

„Can we proceed or are you admitting to a defeat?", Nadira asked smirking. Shepard laughed a short, cold laugh. „The hell I am! You are good, but not that good!", Mariam answered. Okay she was obviously no beginner and honed in fighting. She could safely highten up the difficulty a bit. Shepard moved back in into the fight. This time her hits were harder and faster. One punch followed the other kick. Nadira dove and turned, to evade the manouvers. First she was a bit startled at the change of speed, almost letting a few of Shepard's hits slip through her defense but she realitvely quickly caught herself. She picked up the speed and began to move into a more agressive strategy. Where she turned and rolled away earlier, she now wove a liquid and swift kick into the circular movement of her evasion. She wasn't working to bring distance between them anymore, instead she focused on quick reaction time. To some extent it worked. Shepard was beginning to pant more often than breath, but Nadira was slowly getting out of breath as well. Shepard managed to land a few hits, but not critical ones, mostly into the stomach, but so did Nadira. One time she suddenly jumped into the air, swinging her extended leg in a circle to meet her right in the face. Luckily Mariam was fast enough to block that one with her crossed the two women continued their battle dance, Mariam began to analyse what Nadira had given her so far. At the same time she tried to keep up with the younger woman as good as possible.

Mariam certainly knew how to fight with her fists but she was no hand to hand combat specialist. Nadira on the other hand seemed to be. She was agile and secure on her feet. Every movement was almost pure perfection and witness of long and hard training, learned and memorized only to be played down in a flawless chain of destruction. Her defense was perfect. The circular movements allowed her to evade enemy hits easily and with grace while they enabled a sudden and hard counter attack. Vaguely Shepard remembered a fighting style she read about while still in basic military training. _Ba Gua Zhang_. Nadira's constant circular movements were very prominent for the art. It did not rely on strength, though the long haired woman seemed to have plenty of it. Its basis was speed, flexibility and an absolutely perfect reaction time. Its aim was to tire out the agressive opponent while one remained unharmed, only to strike in an unxpected moment. _Impressive_ , Mariam assessed. To have someone who mastered the style so well was a rarity and certainly an advantage if surrounded by multiple enemies at once.

While Shepard ducked from a fist in the last moment the memory of yesterday slowly crept into her mind. _What did Garrus say? Wind?_ Shepard was still not quite believing what the turian had told her but she knew he couldn't be completely wrong. There had to be a core truth to it.

„You hit Garrus pretty hard yesterday. Scared of showing it to me?", Shepard teased her. Poking at her pride there may lure her into the open. Nadira panted a bit before she answered. „Garrus? The turian?", she asked between breaths while she tried to land a hit from her last evasion.

„Yeah. Something about wind. I don't believe that its true, though.", Shepard provoked her further. At that remark Nadira suddenly stopped. Her dark brown eyes were widened slightly, the sweat was rolling down her forehead and she panted visibly but didn't say anything. Before she had realized it however, Shepard hit her with a biotic punch. She didn't load out the energy completely on her though, just enough to throw her out of concept.

„Now we move to special powers. Come on, show 'em to me.", Shepard said and landed another biotic hit on her, letting her stumble to the ground. Mariam saw the brown eyes widen even further, staring up at her in disbelief.

„What was...is that?", Nadira asked out of breath. Shepard followed her gaze to her own fingers where she let the biotic vails dance around her moving fingers. „You mean this?", she mimicked ignorance. She remembered that one hundred years ago people hadn't had biotics. Of course she couldn't know. _And of course she can't be a biotic_., she scolded herself. Shepard also reluctantly remembered that that was her explanation as aposed to Garrus' wind.

„I'll tell you if you tell me what you did yesterday.", she finally answered. Again and suddenly Mariam moved to punch the woman on the ground with biotic help. This time however Nadira was prepared. She rolled away from the impact, letting Shepard's fist meet the ground quite painfully and jumped up quickly. Shepard immediatly followed her, unloading another biotic wave on her. But Nadira seemed to had understood how it worked. She jumped away from the punch, very high into the air, as if she was flying and Shepard swore she could feel the breeze blow unnaturally around the spot where she just stood. Nadira flipped backwards behind Shepard and before the woman could turn the current hit her. The winds in spiral streams pushed her back without mercy, sending her flying to the front and almost hitting the side of the parked shuttle. _Crap. Garrus was right._ , she thought. She grunted while she struggeled to stand up. Shepard lifted her gaze to her opponent to see her lifting her arms slightly, only to move them in a circle and stretch them down with her open palms leading the way. She straightned her back and exhaled visibly while she did so. Then Nadira looked at the commander. „Are you okay? Have I hit too hard?", she asked slightly concerned and approached her. „I'm fine. What the hell was that?", Shepard asked immediatly after she had found her voice. _Could not be explained logically..._ Miranda's words echoed in her mind. Indeed Mariam couldn't think of a plauisble theory to explain the phenomenon. She had never seen something like it before. Even the functonality of Reaper Tech seemed to be tracable more easily. What Nadira had done just didn't make any sense at the moment. Nadira however just shrugged, as if it was the most natural thing in the galaxy, appearantly not understanding why Shepard was so startled. „I told you I'm an airbender.", she answered simply. „And what should that be?", Shepard inquired again. She remembered the word being used by her when she awakened but she wasn't able to make sense out of it either. The long haired woman frowned at her. As if she wanted to tell her _That's perfectly normal and what the hell is wrong with_ _you_.

„It is what it sounds like. I bend air, as in bending it to my will, manipulating it as I see fit.", Nadira stated. „I saw that.", Shepard replied with a shaking voice. „I meant how you did it!" Nadira rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. She was becoming insecure. But why?

„Well, like this.", she said after a moment. She then inhaled deeply, pulled one leg back, turned in a circle and swung her arms along. She formed another current of streaming wind, its streams outskirting and blowing Shepard's black hair to the side. Nadira halted afterwards and spread her arms. „That's how I do it.", she stated. „No, no!", Shepard waved the demonstration away. „The mechanism, the scientific explanation. How?", Shepard tried to desperately make her understand but she had more and more the feeling of talking against a brick wall. „There is no scientific explanation. It's just bending, more of a spiritual thing.", Nadira answered tonelssly. This woman was either stupid or a colossal bitch. „Stop playing around, Nadira. I am serious.", Mariam almost yelled at her now. Why the hell was she dodging the question? Like some criminal who enjoyed leading the investigating cops astray. It was infuriating and Shepard had no time for this child's play. From the look into Nadira's face she could see genuine discomfort and confusion however. „Have you seriously never seen benders?"

Shepard shook her head so hard the sweat drops actually flipped from her forehead and onto the floor. „Would I ask if I knew?", she asked in return, not quite able to hide the sharp sarcasm in the voice. _Perhaps Miranda was right after all_.

„But there must be a few benders among the crew.", Nadira muttered now. A hint of stunned disbelief in the statement. „No, there is no one with... _bending._ ", Mariam answered. „Of course not everyone is born a bender, but there must be some...on Earth.", Nadira insisted agitatedly, the last worde spoken with hesitance. „No.", Shepard answered firmly, still a bit apelled by the conversation, which may had let it sound a bit unfriendly, but it was truthful. „This can't be. There must be...", Nadira just didn't want to accept the fact. Her failing voice sounding as if she was about to weep again. Finally Mariam walked over to the young woman. She put a hand on her shoulder and urged her to look her in the eyes. Glistening brown gaze locked with a golden sparkling one. „Look, I was on Earth for my military training when I enlisted. I have spent two years there and I have never seen a _bender_.", she explained simpathetically. „I'm sorry.", she added not exactly sure why, but she had the feeling it hit Nadira hard right now.

It was in that moment that a realization came to Shepard. She began to remember the visions she had seen when she had touched the ice prison of Nadira. The most disturbing memory was the reaper shaped creature fighting with the young man at the beginning of the vision but what that man had done to fight the reaper-thing and what the other several people she had seen, had done as well, was identical to how Nadira had fought. Manipulating the elements, commanding the air as she did and even other elements; fire, earth and water. Could that be the key to understanding Nadira's abilities?

The younger woman swallowed heavily and her eyes drifted off into the distance, as if considering the recieved information. Nadira rapidly blinked the tears away. It was clear that it took her quite the effort not to break into tears this time. „I see.", she said after a while. Her voice nothing more than a whim of soft air. Nadira returned her eyefocus to Shepard then.

„Nadira...?", Mariam asked.

„Yes?", the other replied, voice still weak and shaky.

„When I freed you from the ice I saw...visions...of you, of other people. I didn't understand them and they frightened me even, but I think I am beginning to get it now."

Nadira's head turned to her so quickly, Mariam was concerned for a moment that she might had snapped her own neck. But the look she gave her was even more worrying. It was a picture of silent horror. Her mouth opened only a crack but no words came out of it.

„I think...", Shepard just continued when she heared no answer from the other. „..what I have seen there may also be bending. Who were those people?" The commander ended the sentence with a straight question. Perhaps she would say something if confronted with the issue directly. But again no reply came from the younger woman. Her lips closed now, shut so tightly it certainly had to hurt. It became clear then that Nadira wouldn't reveal any information about that, but it made also clear that there was indeed a connection. Why the _airbender_ was so eager to keep silent about it, Mariam did not know. But nobody is silent about a topic with such carefulness if it wasn't a delicate one. Against the quick assessment of the current circumstances Shepard asked further. There was still hope that she would at least uncover something, even small, if not the full truth.

„Are your abilities to manipulate the air in any relations to those people or the vision itself?"

Nadira's look changed from silent horror to a determined focus and this time she spoke.

„We didn't agree upon that.", she finally answered. That was true, though a bit of a childish reaction, Mariam found. Still, she wanted only to know about the airbending in exchange for information about biotics. Admittedly, she still didn't know worth a damn about the wind or _airbending_ as Nadira refered to it, though calling it differently didn't help much either. But Shepard kept her promises, even the supposedly insignificant ones.

„Okay, have it your way.", Shepard replied dryly. _For now._ She added in her thoughts. If there was a connection than she would find out, one way or another, more so if the reaper-shaped thing from the vision related in any way to the real reapers. _The solving key to the reaper-problem_ , the Illusive Man had called her. It started to make sense now.

„Now you. You said you'd tell me about what you did if I told you about my power. Now I want to know as well. What was that force you used on me?", she said now slightly louder. Her voice was much steadier now. Mariam's lips quirked up slightly and she stepped away a few centimeters from Nadira. She lifted a hand and let the blue vailing flares dance around her palm and directing fingers. „It's called biotic." Mariam stopped briefly in her explanation. One hundred yeas ago there was no Element Zero on Earth so she wouldn't understand it when she used the word. Explaining briefly what it was was also no option, since it was a too complex material to be analysed in half a sentence. So Shepard urged her mind to come up with a summery that was more or less accurate, and short and understandable for her at the same time.

 _Huh, let's see. Eezo is radioactive...Yeah that's it. She should understand that._ Believing to have developed a decent explanation for starters, Mariam finally proceeded:

„There was once an incident in Singapore. A freighter with radioactive material contaminated the spaceport. It effected everyone who was there when the conatiner exploded. The actual consequences of that incident were however later seen in newborns. The children of the people who were there. My mother happened to be among them. What it ultimately did was enhancing our neurological abilities. With special built implants we can focus our thoughts and produce this force. It's like telekenisis."

„And _you_ think _bending_ is weird?"

„Well, you haven't seen biotics before and I don't know of bending so I guess we are quit."

„I guess we are."

Nadira tilted her head to the side. Her gaze looked serious, as if she was thinking about something very hardly. Then it popped up in Shepard's brain, a realization that scared her slightly as she thought about possible consequences. So Nadira had been born over one hundred years ago. They hadn't known about the prothean ruins back then and certainly had no idea of biotics. Moving things with your mind had been unthinkable, or at least Mariam had always concluded that much. But now Nadira demonstrated abilities equal to biotics and possibly with even more possibilities then Pull, Throw, Warp and Barriers. It wouldn't had been so incredibly unnerving if Nadira hadn't acted as if she shouldn't been the only one with these powers. In fact she had hinted that a lot more people had the abilities. Appearantly not all, but enough to consider it natural.

If Nadira was telling the truth and not losing her mind of the long frozen period, then there had been quite the number of gifted people, maybe large enough to develope a tradition of bending techniques, like Nadira's well practiced and fluent movements showed. But then again, where were these people? Mariam Shepard never saw or heard of bending. What happned to them? They couldn't had all disappeared, could they? And when the consequences of the eezo incident in Singapore had started to show, people had been absolutely buffeled by it, scared and confused and not sure how to treat biotic individuals. Even she'd had to endure a few suspicios glances from other people. But if there already had been some sorts of telekentic abilites already one hundred years ago, why were the people, especially the governments of Earth and the Systems Alliance so scared of biotics? And why weren't abilities like Nadira's available anymore? Questions over questions and no answer to them. And the more Shepard considered them, the more she became scared of the answers. The first spiral of questions only lead into another deeper one. And again only darkness awaited her at the bottom. A darkness she had felt linger all the time as she wondered about the bending and it only formed another final question that described the strange roaming shiver in her limbs. _Do I really want to know the answer?_

„What happned, I wonder?", she suddenly heared Nadira whisper. The question cought her completely off guard. She had been so neck deep into her thoughts she actually forgot about her environment. But that wasn't the reason why she was scared. Nadira's question was so cruel in its simplicity, it didn't fit the complexity of this new riddle Shepard was faced with. And yet it summed up everything they wanted to know and it was bone chilling.

A look to Nadira revealed that the bender was consumed in her own thoughts as well, not really directing the last sentence at Mariam. She then slowly turned to face the commander, with an expression that told her she thought of the same.

„You and me both.", Shepard finally whispered back. Crisply and so utterly helpless.

* * *

After the short but intensive sparring fight with the commander down in the shuttle bay Nadira straightly went for a nice, cleaning shower. She had sweated a lot and she didn't want to stink the crew away when she would meet them later. Sadly there was no private shower in her room, so she had to share the crew showers of the ship further down the hallway from her quarters. It was small and restricted to the most basic need of hygene, really. And the most privacy she had was the thin wall between the narrow cabines, but it was enough for Nadira. A big part of her life she had spent in the Eastern Air Temple, where modesty was the rule. She didn't need a luxurious bath room with a tub, but she didn't had anything against a bit more movement space either. She frequently hit something in the cabin while she was trying to tend to her long hair, which annoyed her slightly but ultimately she admitted that it was partly her fault, for keeping it so long. Though she often thought about cutting it she really never could bring herself to remove more than nine centimeters per three months. So she required a lot more under the water than the rest of the female crew members, whom she heard entering, showering and leaving for the past half an hour. Some of them chatted with each other merrily, not caring that someone else could hear the often very private exchanges. Nadira tried not to pay much attention to them, which was generally speaking, not very difficult, given the fact that her hair seemed to be too stuborn to let itself be combed properly. She grabbed the conditioner Shepard had lended to her and emptied it on the dark strains of her mane. _I hope she has another one of this_ , she thought grimly, because if not Shepard would need to hold out without hair care for whatever time it took until she could lay her hands on a new ration. She then wetted the hair slightly and rubbed the substance in. Its slik and oily consistency allowed her to comb through the hair more easily and to her great relief this dose finally forced the tangled locks into their knees. While she brought the mess into order Nadira had time to think. She had already known that something changed in the world, in _her world._ It was still odd to specify which world she exactly meant, since after seeing the turian, there obviously were others. When she had awakened neither Shepard nor Dr. Chakwas had seemed to know anything about an air temple. It had scared her enough at that time already but the shock and the confusion on Shepard's face had been panicking, terrifying to say the least. The commander never had seen airbending before and never heard of it either. A little hope had remained then that it perhaps had only been airbending Shepard hadn't known, which was unlikely – the times where the population of air nomads consisted of only five individuals had long passed – but it could had been the case. So she had tested the terrain only subtly, planting the word 'bending' as a general lable when she verrified what she already had recieved a hint of. If it had been only airbending, then Shepard would had said something about earth-, fire- or waterbending. But she hadn't. The term had been completely unknown to her and had shaken Nadira to the core. Where she hadn't had any meaningful purpose in the world before she now was faced with a mystery that doubtlessly called for her intervention. She still didn't know how she would do it but she had to. She was the Avatar and it was her duty. As terrified as she had been upon hearing the revelation concerning bending as equally she was amazed by the power Shepard had demonstrated. _Biotics_. Like the commander had explained it originated from a form of mutation caused by radioactive contamination. It enhanced neural acticity and allowed individuals to move objects with their minds, create force fields, like Shepard had done to her. When she had been hit it had been a strange sensation. It certainly had pushed her away, like the rocks her earthbending teacher had used to direct at her and she had failed to stop. But there had been something else. The force hadn't been only felt external, but it also had crept underneath her skin, causing her muscles to twitch slightly and it had made it a bit harder to regain control over the body. It reminded her a bit of bending but where biotics was all genetics and could be more or less explained logically and measured properly, bending was an art of the spirit. Genes may determine the element of a bender – for example, an exclusively waterbending family could never produce firbending children, on the other hand it possibly could have non-bending family members though, and a mixed firebending and earthbending family can have both firebending and earthbending offspring but again also nonbending children and so on and so forth – but if an individual was able to bend was a question of their spiritual state, how the Qi flowed within their bodies and if it corresponded enough with the spiritual energy around them to influence the elements.

Nadira finally worked through the whole mass of hair and was now washing the conditioner out of it. A glance down showed her the hair that had come out of the mane when she struggled to resolve the knots. She bent down on her knees shortly to remove the occupying strains from the drain and removed the ones on her brush – this one was burrowed by another crew member, since Shepards comb which may had been enough for her tomboyish short hair but not for Nadira's cascade of dark locks – and dropped them in a bin near the entrance before she left the group shower, wrapped into a white towel which had _Normandy SR2_ embroided in gold and black on the side of it. She rushed through the corridor rapidly, hoping no one would see her and disappeared behind the automatically sliding door. When the door slid closed behind her she spotted the fresh uniform somebody had already layed for her. Of course the other was sweated through and went straight for the laundry. She put the ugly black and white suit on, for a lack of something better to wear, and was positively surprised when someone also thought of her need for a hair dryer. There was no way Nadira would bend her hair dry, if she wanted to keep her identity secret, not with the AI watching. Frankly, the AI might not be the one who would reveal her true identity if Nadira remembered how Shepard had scratched at the truth herself just 45 minutes ago. It had been a close call and Nadira hadn't had any better idea than to keep her mouth firmly shut. She was not ready lay the whole truth open before the commander, at least not before she would know more about the disappearance of bending, and she had been outspokenly relieved when Shepard just let her be instead of pushing her into a reply.

Nadira returned her attention to the device she had taken into her hands now.

It certainly was a hair dryer, yet it looked differnt. There was no wire on it and no button to get it going. She weighed the device dubiously in her hands, turned it around but was helpless as to how she was supposed to get it working. That's when a voice interrupted the process of problem solving.

„Are you in need of assistance, Nadira?"

It was EDI's voice and this time it had a clear source. Near the door was a console and a blue eyeball avatar hovered above it. Nadira eyed it for a moment and decided that she indeed was in need of assistance.

„Uhm yes. How do I get the dryer to well, dry my hair?", she asked and lifted the device slightly for EDI to see. Did it see through that thing?

The answer came promptly, voice steely and motionless as ever.

„This model is a chargeable hair dryer and in no need of a wired electrical connection. You may access its function by placing it near the hair. Integrated visual interfaces and scanning programs will determine the needed level of applied warm air."

„Like this?", Nadira inquired again. She held the dryer as she would hold any other wired, and now apperantly antiquated model and moved it around her wet head. A blue light sprang on from inside and after a few moments and a faint hum fom the inside it finally got to work. A warm breeze made its way between her locks and blew the water away. After thirty minutes her thick hair was still not entirely dry but acceptable and she decided she would let the rest dry on its own. Then she heared a soft knock at the metallic door. „You ready, Nadira?" It was the firm voice of Commander Shepard. Nadira didn't answer, instead she went straightly to the door, causing it to slide open and revealing the commander in the same uniform she wore. Shepard smiled at her and grabbed her by her wrist. „Come on, everyone is waiting for you.", she said and pulled her out of the room and back to the mess hall where a large group was assambled. Half of it was human. Jacob and Miranda stood there, though why the blue eyed woman bothered to be present was beyond her. Another human woman however was there, too, and from the look of it also keeping her distance from Miranda. Her head was bald, stripes of tattoos visible on every side of it. Her eyes had almost the same dark brown as Nadira's and her full red lips were pulled down into a subtle frown. She was in no good mood apperantly. Nadira's eyes widened slightly as she saw that the bald woman practically wore nothing on her upper body. Well, there was this belt thing covering her nipples and fastned around the shoulders but the only other thing that covered her skin were tattoos. Lots and lots of images decorated the body of the woman, leaving no single corner of her skin uninked. The other half of the crew Shepard wanted her to know consisted of aliens, everyone of them another variant of extraterestrial life forms. There was the turian from yesterday, his blue predatory gaze felt like it pierced right through her and his armour which was damaged at the left side of the wide collar matched it. _I hope that wasn't me_ , she thought regretfully remembering the incident. Though another glance revealed blackened frames at the hole, as if something burned through it. _I didn't use firbending on him, so it can't have been me_., she quickly insisted to herself, pushing the blame away. The other three aliens however were also a sight on their own. The first of them that cought her attention next was a huge bulking lizard creature. Its, his, whatever had a human toned thick skin with a grey crust on its or his head. The eyes were located at the sides of the head and were icy blue, pupils black and narrowed down to a single slot each. The other strange creature reminded her faintly of a frog. It had some sorts of horns on its head, large glistening eyes and a long limp body. Its white coat made it look like a medic or a scientist. The last one however was in comparison familiar. It had a very human shaped, appearantly female body, with breasts and wide hips. She wore a black suite, with a purple hood, facemask and wrappings on her body. The only thing distinguishing her anatomy from a human's were the signficantly more bent leggs and the two toed feet attatched to them, as well as the three fingered hands. Nadira wondered why she was fully covered though. _Cultural habit? Like the burqa on some human muslims? Or maybe a bad immune system? Or extraordinarily ugly?_ , she though slightly amused though she doubted that it was the last one. Nadira however had trouble making out any distinguishable facial features through the purple face mask. The only thing that was prominently visible were the blinking glowing eyes of the female, which however fueled Nadira's curiosity even further.

Shepard suddenly cleared her throat to get everyone's attention „Guys, I want you to meet someone. This is Nadira, the woman we picked up from Earth last week. She'll be part of the crew for now-"

„Temporarily.", Miranda interrupted coldly. Shepard shot Miranda a glance that was anything but amused. „Have I given you the word Miranda?", she half hissed. There clearly was some bad chemistry between them. „No.", Miranda answered bluntly and avoided eye contact. „Then you keep silent until I do so, understood?", Shepard told her firmly. Shepard was trying hard not be unfriendly, Nadira noted. She wasn't extraordinarily offensive or loud, but present enough to punch some discipline through. „Understood.", Miranda said flatly after a while. Shepard then sighed heavily and proceeded:

„Where have I stopped? Right. Nadira? This is the crew. You already know Miranda and Jacob.." The commander pushed her gently closer to the people assambled in front of her. Miranda looked deliberately away, where Jacob only nodded with an acknowledging smile on his face.

„...this is Jack..." Shepard guided her to the bald woman. Nadira reached out a hand for a greeting. The bald woman only looked at it and spoke without accepting it.

„Hey.", she said with an annyoed undertone. _And what have I done to her?_ , Nadira wondered. „Uh yeah. Hey.", she replied. She thought she'd be moving on quickly but Jack wasn't quite finished with her, eventhough she didn't accept the handshake. „So you are that yeti girl they dug out from the ice.", she remarked flatly, a hint of amusement in the voice while she scanned her up and down. „I suppose...", Nadira hesitated. She had no idea what to do with that comment. Was is it a harmless joke or did this Jack intend to make her her enemy from day one? „Nice to meet you.", Nadira then added." Jack exhaled heavily in response. „Relaxe, I am only joking.", she then said while rolling her eyes. She clearly had noticed Nadira's reluctance in her words. „I see.", Nadira commented plainly. „Hey, nice tattoos.", Jack then tilted her head to the exposed arms where the silver arrows were visible and this time her voice had a faint shadow of genuine appreciation. Since Jack was heavily inked herself it could be something she though they had in common, some base of relationship. This time Nadira found the strength to smile at Jack truthfully and said. „Thank you". She moved on to the next person. It was the turian.

„...and you kind of already met Garrus...", Shepard joked at her side, trying to ease the tension a bit. Nadira looked up at the tall turian. She herself wasn't considered a delicate or short woman. She was very tall for her gender and the muscles from her training weren't letting her bulking out like a male, but they prevented the lithe stature of a model. And yet, looking up to Garrus she felt small and fragile under his gaze. After a while of staring, Nadira regained her voice. „I think I should apologize...", she began and looked to the side nervously."...Sorry I blew you to the ground yesterday. I didn't mean to hurt you, it's just...", she exhaled. As she processed the fact that Garrus was a sapient being, a person with opinions and feelings and thoughts like her own she found it slightly offensive to tell him that she had been afraid because she simply had never seen a creature like him before. „Hey...", he then took the word. His voice had a swinging, subvocaled sound to it and it was not as deep as she'd imagined now that she payed attention. „I know you've probably never seen a turian before. Damn, if I was you I would have freaked out too, though probably because of my hellishly good looks." His mandibles, or rather the undamaged one flexed at the last sentence. Nadira kept staring up at him for a while. It surprised her of course that he spoke such a good american accented english. But what astonished her about him was the teasing joke at the end. He was trying to make her more comfortable, showing her _You don't need to be afraid of me. I am no moster and I certainly will not bite you._ It revealed a cheerful nature of a guy who didn't take life too seriously. She could easily imagine him in a life threatining situation, where he would still pull of some cheesy lines along the way of death and she kind of liked it. They ended the apology with a firm hand shake and Nadira let herself be guided further down the line of species she needed to meet before getting off this ship. The next in line was the huge bulking creature, also so big it stared down at her. This one however looked grim. Though her rational mind told her that it would be best not to make this one angry, another side of her head had a bit of trouble taking it seriously. In the end it simply looked like a big turtle and the pinkish round ckeeks didn't help. „...and this big guy here is Grunt, a krogan...", Shepard introduced them. Grunt? What kind of unloving, uncreative name was this? The massive _krogan_ came a little closer to her and...sniffed her? The sound of inhaled air was heard between them and Nadira's brows furrowed at the strange gesture. Did it let smell decide on wether it liked someone or not. „Hm...", he finally rumbled. The voice was very deep and unmistakeably male in its resonance. „You smell...odd.", he finally said while his reptilian eyes still scanned her up and down. „Is that a good thing or a bad thing?", was Nadira's prompt response. She didn't question him about the sniffing part and just accepted that he did things this way, when his whole body mass was about to wheigh down on her threateningly. „I don't know.", he rumbled after a while. „But if Shepard decided to keep you, then I can't do anything about it." Again Nadira was impressed by the well spoken english. Had humanity taken over the galaxy and forced everyone to speak their international language? Grunt then stepped away still eyeing her dubiously as she proceeded to the next alien. It was the frog-like, tall creature. It blinked at her rapidly and came closer to her, offering a three fingered hand without hesitation. „...This is Mordin, a brilliant salarian medic and scientist. He helped recover you from the North Pole." Nadira studied him briefly and accepted the handshake. The white-coat-cliché was correct after all, she thought. Then she spoke directly with him. „You helped free me from the ice?", she asked. If he did, than thanks to him were due. He nodded as quickly as he spoke. „Yes, well not exactly. Already freed when arrived. Thought you were dead. But then miracle, you were still breathing! Proceeded to apply life saving measures, though remarkably stable." Of course Nadira knew what had kept her stable. It was the Avatar Spirit that had kept her from freezing to death. The Avatar muttered a simple 'Thank you', only audible for Mordin and wanted to proceed on the introduction. But suddenly Mordin turned to her again, another tearing river of words flooding her: „Ah, almost forgot. Wanted to know if available for further tests. Survival in ice unknown phenomenon. Would like to write paper on it. Possible?" He talked so fast he didn't even bother with complete, gramatically correct sentences. Well, why would you need pronouns, adverbs or conjugation if you were a brilliant scientist? _Does this involve probing?Or chipping?_ , she wanted to ask. It would be the ultimate fulfillment of every aluminium hatty's conspiracy alien fantasy, but she doubted it actually happened that way. But knowing exactly what was the cause of her survival she knew he would not find anything and if she told him the truth would he believe it? Either way she didn't want to be impolite but did neither refuse nor accept. „I'll think about it."

The last alien was the human shaped one with the mask. She was slightly shorter then Nadira, so she tilted her head a little up. „..and this is Tali.", Shepard ended the introduction. Tali offered yet another three fingered hand. What was with the three fingers only with these aliens? Nadira just accepted it and Tali was the one taking the initiative. „Hello.", she began. Her voice was soft and very girlish. „A pleasure to meet you. I hope you are well now?" Her english was compared to the others heavily accented, rolling the 'r' out and dragging the vocals along a bit longer than necessary. „I'm better, thanks. The pleasure is mine,", Nadira replied and couldn't help but feel a bit odd in this encounter. After a few seconds she also figured out why. Tali wasn't still in her greeting. She was jumpy, as if she wanted to say something else but couldn't quite bring herself to to do it. Then she finally seemed to gain the bravery. „Uh, I am sorry. I know it might sound weird but can I touch your hair?" Nadira laughed before she could think about it. Back on Earth this was a question directed at her quite frequently. Her hair was really longer and thicker in volume than the average human's. It was even more prominent through its curly conistency. Tali's glowing eyes blinked at her rapidly and after Nadira stopped herself from giggling she finally found the words to speak again:

„Yes, you can.", she answered. A joyful squee was heard through the suit's loud speaker. It bend the voice of the woman in a watery way and made the high pitched sound odd to the ears. Tali gently took a bundle of locks into her hands and stroked it in awe. „You know, I already saw a lot of humans and we quarians also have hair under the helmet...", she said while still examining Nadira's dark waves. „You do?" Shepard suddenly snapped to attention. It clearly was a mystery to everyone what was under the suit. „Yes!", Tali sounded cheerful. „But I never seen hair of this length and quality. Keelah!" Slowly and reluctanty the quarian, as her species was evidently called, let go of the brown hair. „And may I also make a request?", Nadira asked cautiously. She decided that she also liked Tali and didn't want to scare her of. „Of course.", she said. „Ask away."

Nadira turned to face her fully before she spoke. „Can you remove the mask? Just briefly. I am kind of curious of what you look like." Light laughters from the others. Had she said something wrong? Slightly uncomfortable Nadira hoped she didn't screw up too badly. „I'd love to, belive me.", Tali answered, the voice a bit regretful there. „But I can't. Quarian's immune systems are very weak. If I remove the mask the most harmless thing that could happen to me is running a fever for a few days.", the quarian explained. Nadira gasped unwillingly. It also made sense now why they had laughed. Her whole species was confined to an environmental suit like this and not by choice. Nadira was probably not the first nor the last one to wonder about the quarian's looks. „I'm sorry.", the Avatar then quickly apologized. „Don't be.", Tali immediatly cut her off. „It's kind of part of who we are now. We learned to live with it."

„But I have to ask..." Garrus now intervended into the conversation. „...How in the spirits' names did you get into that damned ice block?" Nadira didn't answer that one immediatly. She knew she would be confronted with this particular question sooner or later, but she didn't really think about a possible response. And again, she was not willing to expose her true nature to any of them. After a while Nadira gave her reply.

„I was betrayed." Nothing more, only this sentence. The Avatar knew that there would be further questions but she hoped she would explain it without exposing herself as she went. Some of the people in the room exchanged dubious glances. Garrus gaped at Shepard who was standing next to her. His stare begged for help. Then the turian faced her again, the small predatory eyes slightly widened and mandibles flexed.

„Right...", he said hesitantly. „Because we all got frozen up at some point after we pissed somebody off. Happens all the time." The sarcasm in his tone was as sharp as his teeth that peeked out of what had to pass as a grin for a turian.

„What Garrus here wants to say...", Shepard now said half grinning. „...is that it would be extremely helpful if you told us who you are, what happened to you and why it happned to you." The commander ended the sentence and stepped right in front of her, forming eye contact. Of course the commander wasn't satisfied with the the introduction Nadira had given her when she had first awakened, and neither did she buy that she was only an airbender. She knew there was more to what Nadira was, only she had no lead on where to start, so she just asked her openly. Nadira broke the eye contact. Her gaze wandered to the ground, not facing anyone directly and she brought a bit more space between them. Otherwise, however, the Avatar kept silent. Frankly, Nadira was a horrible lyer and hadn't even the guts to do it to begin with. So she just shut up. It was not the right time to reveal herself, but she didn't want and couldn't lie either.

„Nadira..." Shepard adressed her once again. „...You understand that your silence actually tells me what you want to deny." Again no answer from the other.

„You want to get off this ship?", Shepard asked now. A nodd.

„So it is also in your best interest to answer my questions honestly. If you really aren't all that special, which I doubt, then you can go, easy as it is. But if you have more up your sleeves, some power, anything that could prove to be an advantage for us, then we'll need you. Please, our very existence is at stake." Shepard's voice had taken on a hint of desperation at the end. Nadira inhaled and exhaled visibly.

 _We need you..._

How again ironic it was. The last words she had heared before she had been put to sleep for a century had been that no one had needed her. And now here she stood, among people she barely knew and this woman told her the exact opposite. Nadira was needed. Shepard couldn't know what she gave her at that moment. It wasn't only a plea. She gave her a purpose, a thing Nadira now understood she had lacked all the time.

„The woman who did this to me...", Nadira then broke her silence. She couldn't quite miss the hope that started to shine in Shepard eyes. „...was my own...mentor. I was in her way, so she got rid of me." That was all Nadira was willing to tell them. It wasn't a lie. But not the entire truth either. The faint smile on Shepard's face vanished.

„That's not helping.", the commander commented dryly, dissapointment resonating in her voice.

„Besides, how the hell did that mentor of yours freez you in a wave of crashing water masses? Also wouldn't it be easier to just shoot you in the head?", Garrus added, which earned him a few unamused glances from his team mates and a very horrified one from Nadira. He noticed his mistake upon looking around into the round.

„Just stating facts here. I didn't mean to...", he justified himself and lifted his arms in a defensive gesture in front of his torso. Nadira closed her eyes briefly and wearyly and waved the last comment off.

„I understand. But believe me when I tell you I don't know about her motives any further myself." Partly it was true. What Nadira had understood was that Yuka thought the Avatar was standing in her way somehow, preventing the rightful greatness of humanity or some garbage like that. But why she had chosen to freez her while she had been in the Avatar state instead of simply killing her was also beyond the young Avatar's understanding.

„Well, looks like your precious new asset has some serious trust issues. I say why bother with her? Just leave her at the next space port and let us end our mission without her. We don't have time for this charade!", Miranda hissed sharply now. Her ice cold gaze was locked on Nadira now. The latter however didn't let herself be intimadated by the presence of the calculating dark haired woman. The young Avatar frowned at Miranda, her own dark eyes drained from any friendliness that might had been there moments ago. She didn't say anything, only withstanding the displeasure directed at her.

„Miranda! That's enough! You either contribute something useful or be out this conversation!"

Shepard stepped in with a sudden firm sharpness in her voice, that let everyone wince in the room. Once again the usually kind commander demonstrated that she could deal with stubborn people very differently of she wanted to.

Furious footsteps suddenly interrupted the encounter. It was Miranda who stormed off, eager to leave the conversation as soon as possible.

„If anyone should happen to need me, I'm in my office.", she spat out on her way and for the second time today, Nadira witnessed the metallic door hissing closed behind her. Jack broke out into loud laughter at that moment. Shepard shot her a glance that spoke of surprise and shock. The tattooed woman obviously didn't laugh so often and so whole heartedly. „Jack, you okay?", the commander asked her. Jack calmed her laughter and answered:

„Fuck yeah, never been better actually."

„And what was so funny that got you to laugh so hard?", Shepard inquired.

„It's her.", she said and pointed still half snorting to Nadira. The airbender winced a little. „Me? I'm flattered that I seem to have improved your mood so drastically but what have I done exactly?" Jack then inhaled, calming her amusement down so that she could speak properly. It wasn't quite succesfull, as her body still twitched from more laughter that demanded to be freed. „Actually nothing. But shit, you piss that cerberus-cheeleader off by simply being there. I think I'm starting to like you."

So Nadira was not the only one on Miranda's 'People-I-hate-for no reason-list' it would seem.

„Jack likes somebody?", it was Jacob who mingled himself into the exchange now. „And I was beginning to think I'd never live to see that day!"

„Keep your shit together, Taylor! I only said _I'm starting to like her_ not that I already like her."

„It's still hell of a change you lived through in just a few minutes compared to a few weeks ago."

„Whatever." Jack waved Jacob's last comment away. „I already spent more time with any of you than I'd like to. So, Shepard, If you want anything you know where to find me.", she told then Shepard and made herself ready to leave. It was evident that she was no type for social gatherings. „And Nadira?", she then turned to the young Avatar on her way out. „If you wanna talk a little more, you'll find me down in engeneering." Jack ended the sentence with a nodd and finally went around the corner to the elevator bay.

„Pfft..", Jacob again. „Yeah, she definitely likes you. Would still be careful with her though, she's a bit...difficult."

„Yeah, I think I noticed that.", Nadira remarked. „Not as difficult as Miranda though, in my opinion."

„Forget about Miranda.", Jacob said. „Well, actually I don't meant that you should pretend she's not there. I mean don't let her attitude get to you too much. The mission is right now her top priority and she doesn't want her work go to waste.", he explained, stumbling throughout the whole sentence as he tried to pick the right expressions.

Nadira nodded in acknowledgement. On the surface it could easily be put aside with the explanation of being worried about the mission. Since Shepard already hinted that it would be a suicide mission, it had to be a very important one. You don't send a team of exeptionally competent people into their almost certain deaths, or so Nadira thought, if it wasn't. However she had still this background feeling that there was more to it than the mere success of the mission. A worry over efficiency wouldn't be so hardly felt and specifically directed in the way that Miranda's inconvenience towards her was. Perhaps, Nadira thought, she might get a better understanding of the cold eyed woman if she knew more details about the mission, Shepard was apperantly ordered to recruit her to.

„Speaking of which...", Nadira then began. „What is this mission, I always keep hearing about. I know it's dangerous, potentially deadly. But does anybody of you care to tell me why you are ready to jump at it. Since you all are here."

„Straight to buisness, I see.", Garrus commented. „But first, what was that air-thing you did to me. And don't tell me it wasn't there. I felt it!" The turian's last sentence was largely directed at Shepard though.

„Airbending.", Nadira just confirmed flatly.

„So I was right after all.", Garrus' tone held excitement, happiness and fear all at once.

„Wait a second. Air thing? What air thing?", Jacob said again. His relaxed body tensed up in a split second over Garrus' words and the rest of the group looked interested as well.

„I thought Miranda told you about it.", Shepard told Jacob. „Yeah, she did.", he said. „I know that you broke quite the havoc but I didn't know anything about air here."

„What is this airbending.", Tali asked now. Nadira looked around into the wide, questioning eyes of her audience. „Well, how do I put it...?", Nadira whispered, more to herself, then to the people standing around her. As she averted her eyes, her gaze wandered off, to the large table of the mess hall next her. A flat, partly transparent pad lied upon it and Nadira remembered seeing a few people on the ship reading from those. She had concluded that it had to be something like a tablet in her time, but that was not important now. Important was that it could help her explain the airbending to the people, nevermind that another fellow human had no idea about the ancient art as well. Nadira grabbed the device and handed it to Shepard. Upon the questioning look of the other woman she said: „Toss it at me."

„What?", Shepard exclaimed.

„I promise, I won't let it break.", Nadira assured. So Shepard did what she was told. The pad flew in a large curve to Nadira. But the young Avatar didn't catch it with her hands. For a second she could see the slight horror in everyone's faces and she felt amusement upon the sight. But of course the device stayed in tact. With a swift movement Nadira cought it in a swirling ball of air, between her hands.

Jacob's jaw dropped to the floor as he stared at what she had formed. A loud gasp was heard from Tali, followed by a breathless „Keelah!" and Grunt and Mordin stepped closer and eyed the airball with a mix of astonishment and fear. Shepard, who already knew the power was the only one who remained calm during the demonstration and Garrus jumped up and down, while he pointed at the airball.

„Ha! Do you see this? Do you all see this? It's wind, people! I'm not nuts!", he exclaimed with glee, happy that he could finally prove his claims.

Shepard cleared her throat then. „Okay, now that everyone knows what Nadira's special talent is, back to the topic. Let's brief you about the mission Nadira. To the debriefing room, it will be better to do it there."

Nadira dircted the airball back to the mess table, where she let it dissolve and drop the pad onto the surface, as the group then divided. Garrus returned to his room, where Nadira was told the main guns of the ship were located. Tali, Grunt, Mordin and Jacob acompanied them to the elevator bay, eying her dubiously all the time, which made Nadira a bit nervous. Suddenly she regretted having shown them airbending. They first rose onto the second level of the ship, which was labled as Combat Information Center. Shepard, Nadira, Jacob and Mordin departed, leaving only Grunt and Tali in the elevator.

„Why are you people leaving all of a sudden?"

„Sorry...", Tali said with her accented roll. „But I still have work to do. You can come down to engeneering and we can talk a bit more later, if you want.", the quarian suggested. Her voice was shaky, as she spoke.

„Also, we already know the mission details. No need to repeat it to death.", Grunt answered now.

„Agree. Will also go back to lab now.", Mordin added quickly. The salarian seemed to be eager to bring as much distance between them as possible all of a sudden.

„I see.", Nadira acknowledged. Then the elevator door slid closed and Mordin turned to the right of the large room, entering another door that she heared hiss open and close again. The young Avatar had no time to take in the whole environment of this level. A red haired woman merely smiled at her in acknowledgement and the other people standing around what appeared to be a holographic projection of the Milky Way, didn't even notice her. She was then quickly pushed into another door, left from the elevator bay, lead through a large room, through a corridor and finally through another door. There was a lot of space in the room they now entered, but which was compromised by a large conference table in the middle of it.

„As you already know, the mission is classified as a high-risk-operation, which means there is little to no probabilty that anyone will survive this...", Shepard then began without an introduction, as she walked around the huge table to the right flank. Jacob settled at the left hand side, in the meantime.

„...As you may have already guessed; through advanced spacefight we have reached other habitable planets and established colonies there. EDI?", she proceeded.

„Yes, Commander.", the computer voice answered immediatly.

„Bring up a galaxy map and other files and footage regarding the main mission."

„Certainly.", EDI replied and another holographic projected image of the Milky Way popped up. Shepard reached out to tap the image. It immediatly became larger and she pushed it up to focus on a specific region of the galaxy.

„Our colonies lie within this area. These regions are the Terminus Systems and the Traverse." The names popped up obove the areas which are now marked red for demonstration.

„So I'm taking a wild guess here and say something's up with those settlements, which is why you are ready to throw your lives away, as it is something big.", Nadira commented dryly, with a slight hint of sarcasm in the tone. She wasn't making fun of the situation. It was more of a way for her to make dealing with the information easier. Whatever spaceflight she knew of, before Yuka had betrayed her, was solely restricted to the home system, which was labled as Sol System in the Galaxy map. It had only been a few astronauts periodically sent to conduct researches on moons of Jupiter and Saturn, asteroids, and occasionally on Mars. The journies were power draining, expensive and long. The vessels had taken months to reach a destination, the existence of planets like Earth were only mathematic speculations. Now it was all real, matrielized into a rock that sombody threw at Nadira and it hurt. Sci-Fi media back in her day aside, she had never been big on those, so she was more or less neutral to the topic, colonies meant that people had traveled long distances, light-years, to start a new life. It was no simple research destination for astronauts, that was temporary anyway. It was a home to people; families, mothers, fathers, children, partners and friends forming a complete new community. What Shepard basically told her was that these homes were now threatened to be torn apart. Or perhaps they already had been, hence why this intervention. And since this was a high risk operation the one responsible for these disturbances had to be a formidable foe. It was so headspinning and frightening, Nadira actually wished she didn't have to think about it, but her brain did it anyway.

„Exactly.", Jacob now took the word and confirmed her fears. But there wasn't much room for further interpretation anyway. „These colonies are technically Alliance Space, so the military is responsible for its safety. But the area is a dangerous place anyway. Batarian pirates are known to roam there. Make raids threw the colonies, take slaves. The Alliance is present but can't naturally be everywhere and save everyone and the council denies help, pointing out that humanity knew the risks when taking these worlds. So they are not really alarmed by a few more incidents. They think it's normal."

Nadira took a moment to process the information, but all she really got was that that particular part of the galaxy was a dangerous place anyway, so no one's lifting a finger for it. However she didn't understand who those no-one's were. There was first, the Alliance. If she had to guess she'd say its some evolution of the United Nations transgrassed into galactic standards. Okay, that wasn't so hard. But what was the council? Well, of course a council, but of what and who was member of this governing organ. If the Alliance was the human evolution of the UN and they were asking the council for help, then the council had to be non-human, consisting of aliens and obviously a mean to govern the galaxy. So the assignment of the colonies into human authority was negotiated with the council and granted under the condition that the humans had to help themselves out there. Alright that made sense, but there was still the other word. _Batarians_. Now what was that or maybe who? Most likely an alien race and they appearantly were slavers.

„I think you went a little too fast here.", Shepard now threw in.

„Oh, yeah, right. I forgot that you aren't...Sorry."

„It's okay. I can imagine what you meant more or less. I take it the Alliance is something like the UN...in my time?", Nadira said and attempted to confirm her guesses.

„So to say. After they discovered we were not alone in the galaxy they formed the System's Alliance. As a galactic political power and military force.", Shepard explained.

„And the council is the Milky Way's government?", Nadira inquired.

„In a way. I compare it to the EU. Each species is still sovereign but as everyone expands there can be collisions of interests. The council tries to balance out these interests in order to keep the peace. Not every species has a seat, though. One seat is held by the asari...", with the last sentence Shepard opened up another image on the projection. It showed a woman. But she was not human, though she certainly had the physical and facial structres of one. But first she was blue and second there was no hair growing out of her head. Instead there were...tanticles, for a lack of a better word for the head shape Nadira saw.

„The council...", Shepard began again. „..is located on the Citadel. It's the capital of the galaxy if you will." The commander opened another file: a cylinder formed apratsus, with long branching multiple arms, hovering between the stars. „The asari were the first to discover the space station, so they have the most weight in the council's decision making."

„And who holds the other seats?", Nadira now asked, still looking at the space station. In the back of her head she wondered what it would be like to be inside it.

„The other council seats are held by the turians, salarians and us.", Shepard said. Nadira tilted her head at the commander. So humanity goverened the galaxy after all, albeit her previous assumption, not alone.

„Shepard here earned us that seat two years ago when she saved the Citadel.", Jacob threw in.

„Yeah, and as you see, you see nothing, because having a seat in the council isn't enough to get the others to help you with your issues.", Shepard replied saracastically. „Where did I stop?", Nadira heard her mutter under her breath.

„But what about...other species?"; Nadira interrupted Shepard's thinking. The commander lifted her head at that.

„I mean, there are more than 4 species...", Nadira assessed. She saw that quarians or krogan were not included, that already made two additional species. So there had to be more, right?

„They have embassies.", Shepard replied curtly. Then she brought up another image after she had browsed through countless files. A picture of a four eyed alien popped up. „And these are the batarians.", Shepard introduced. „We had some tension with them in the past, but their planetary government denies involvement in the pirate and slaver raids. It must also be noted that the batarians have established a caste system and slavery is perfectly acceptable within that societal structure. And occasionally they take their slaves from us." Nadira struggeled internally to keep her view on the four eyed species as neutral as possible. Culturally or relegiously established caste systems were difficult. The Avatar had a fair share of cultural conflict with the Hindu caste system, for instance. She had been raised to see everyone in life as equal, as needed in some way and not restricted by societal boundaries. Thus had been the teachings of the air nomads. Freedom was her doctrine. People who tried to take that freedom away pissed the hell out of her. But as the Avatar she found herself in the uncomfortable position to be available to everyone, and that included to be as open minded and accepting as possible. She couldn't afford to be bound by and stuck on her personal beliefs and worldview. So she tried not to establish the people in the image as her picture of her enemies. There couldn't only be this aspect about them. Naturally they would be more complex.

Nadira tugged the batarians away for the moment. She had the feeling there would be plently of opprtunities to know the species in further depths.

„So...", Nadira said then. „...what exactly is happening to the colonies now?" She had recieved a lot of information, yet she had no damned idea about the mission itself.

„The colonists are being abducted.", Jacob answered momentarily.

„By whom, if not those... _batarians_?" The Avatar asked the next logical question. Shepard on the other hand kept silent. The commander browsed through more file folders instead, selecting a handful of images to be shown on the holographic screen. Some of them showed...Nadira didn't know what they showed. She had never seen something compareable to it. It just seemed like huge rock formations, as the piled stones reached over a few buildings in their proximity. But Nadira understood these were not natural rock formations. It was too thin and too tall and there were metal pieces fabricated into the rock, so someone had built it. Other pictures showed another alien species. This one however was, strange to the eye. The specimens had no clothes on their bodies. Instead they seemed to be protected by their own, bilogical exoskleton, or whatever it was called that bulked out of their bodies. They were bidpedal but the head looked insectile. _Like a mantis_ , Nadira thought to herself. But what sent chills down her spine when she looked at these creatures were their four eyes. Now this trait she had already seen on the batarians, so it wasn't the number that disconcerted her. They were pale, without any life, without a soul sparkling in them, - unlike the batarians - as if mindless, nothing more than a weapon on two leggs and little less.

„Those are kidnapping people?", Nadira asked. She already knew the answer. It was a rather rethorical question, perhaps even hoping that she got something wrong in this briefing, but to her dissapointment, she was right. Jacob confirmed the answer with a bitter nodd and Shepard answered her with words.

„We call them collectors."

 _Because they collect people...?_ , Nadira wanted to say, cynicly. Was this intended as some sort of horrific pun? If it was, it didn't make it any easier to swallow.

„And neither the Alliance nor the council deem it necessary to do something about it. Because, you know, if people dissapear it could be slavers, because that's happening all the time. But they won't believe that the collectors are behind the dissapearances.", Jacob added.

Nadira swallowed and noticed that her mouth had been gaping open and caused her throat do dry out.

„And they are taking the people because...?", Nadira managed to produce.

„We don't know. But whatever it is, it can't be anything good. So we will stop them."; Shepard told her, voice determined and firm. She left no room for doubts here. The commander swung the images back until she returned to the galaxy map. She tapped on an area at the far right of the galaxy. The area became instantly bigger and showed a planetary system. One object was labled as Omega. It was rocky but still had major metallic parts to it, and not few. Probably another space station, Nadira assessed. She already began to adjust her thinking to this age. Two more objects hovered near the supposed space station. However, Nadira's thinking came to an end there. She had no idea what those were. She only saw that one of them was marked red and had the lable Omega-4-Relay, of which Nadira concluded that it had to be important of some sort. Shepard resumed her explanation then.

„The operation against the collectors is a high-risk one because we're gonna hit them where they live. Wipe them out, so no more abductions can take place. In order to get there, we'll have to go through the Omega-4-Relay here, you see on the map. No ship has ever returned after entering it. That's why it is very likely that this is going to be a one-way-trip."

Nadira stared at the projection for a moment. This sounded like an old fishermen's tale; the sort of story where everyone knew how it was in that particular haunted place, eventhough no one ever returned from it – only in space. The Avatar rubbed her temples wearily.

„Sorry for my constant dumfoldness but bear with my lack of knowledge on contemporary technology: what is this Omega-4-Relay and its blue pendant next to it?" She pointed at the unkown images on the map.

„Mass relays.", Jacob answered. „They are like portals, bending the very continuum of time and space and they allow us to travel from one system to the other in short time, when it would take centuries without it."

Okay, this surface explanation Nadira understood but she doubted that she would understand the higher science behind it. And she didn't want to ask either. The sheer imagination of the response she would get already hurt her brain. So she just said:

„I see." and leaned in closer, supporting herself on the rim of the conference table. „But...", Nadira then threw in. „...do we have to wipe them out? Perhaps there is another way. We can talk with them-"

Nadira didn't get to complete her suggestion. It was interrupted by a snorting laughter of Shepard and a muffled, deep chuckle of Jacob. Nadira narrowed her eyes.

„What?", she demanded. Shepard calmed herself first.

„Sorry...it's just...well, of course you can't know."

„What can't I know?"

„To think that somebody actually doesn't know about the Reapers...", Jacob mumbled, still grinning widely.

„Huh?"

That was it. Nadira slowly but steadily had enough and began to grow tired of this whole mess she found herself in. Everytime she thought she had it all figured out, there always was something new that popped up from around the corner and it was getting more and more ridiciulous by the minute.

 _Reapers?! What the hell are Reapers?!,_ she wondered internally and damned Yuka's soul for the thousandth time now, that is, if she even had one.

„The Reapers...", Shepard said and tore Nadira out of her annoyance. „...are a race of sapient machines who want to wipe us out. And with us, I mean all of us. Every advanced, sapient race out there. We believe the collectors are their minions who only carry out their commands."

The Avatar rose an eyebrow and gaped at Shepard. So there it was after all. The Deus ex Machina who wanted to kill everyone. The thought was bitterly amusing and disconcerting at the same time.

„One of them...", Jacob again. „...was the one who attacked the Citadel two years ago, but Shepard stopped it. It was called Sovereign." The man had already calmed himself as he talked. His voice became plain and clinical. In the meantime the commander swiped once again through files on the holographic screen. The one she opened let Nadira wince internally and her heart race in her chest. It showed the form of a black machine, so large in size, the vessels around it looked like mosquitos harassing it. But it was not the size that made her gasp in discomforting unease. Nadira was fairly sure she had never seen a thing like this before, only it looked familiar. Her brain worked now on maximum capacity. It was very familiar and the name lied on her tongue but smething prevented her from remembering it.

„The council thinks that was the last of the Reapers..." Only vaguely Nadira heared Shepard's muffled voice at the corner of her mind. The Avatar fully concentrated on the dark form of the image instead. The shape was known, there was no doubt and she felt that it was closer than she liked it to be.

„...moving again now, this time through the Collectors. You actually don't..." Another scrap of the explanation Nadira cought during her thinking process. She urged her brain now to spit out the memory, the information she felt was so essential to her very survival.

 _Come one. Where have you...?_

A flash of a memory passed in front of her mental eye. Only seconds, too quickly to grasp the full vision, but one glimps she could get.

 _Avatar Korra? But what..?_ And like an invisible vail that previously clouded her mind she now saw very clearly...and remembered the name.

 _Vaatu..._

„...has the ability to alter organic life forms to its will. It's called indoctrination and by the end, nothing of the people is left, leaving only mindless husks prone to the Reaper's desires. That's what probably happened to the collectors. Whatever they were before is gone now. So no, there is no other way than wiping them out."

Shepard's voice stopped so abrubtly, Nadira rocked her head up to the commander. Eyes wide from the shocking similiarity, she stared at the other woman without losing a word. Shepard sighed.

„Yeah, it's really that horrible.", she only said.

„Uh, I think you shocked her.", Jacob commented. Nadira blinked rapidly and run a hand through her hair.

„I apologize if I scared you. But I needed to be completely honest with you, so you can reconsider things before you head into a suicide mission...", Shepard said, with a now much calmer and sympathetic voice.

„...or don't.", Jacob completed the commander's last sentence.

The Avatar breathed heavily. She struggled to keep her mind clear. With effort she answered the two people in front of her.

„I..need time to think...before I agree or disagree to anything.", she said with a shaky voice. Nadira saw Shepard nodd. „I understand. You are dismissed for now."

Nadira kept standing there without moving one bit. She felt Jacob moving past her, leaving the debriefing room behind. Inevitably her mind wandered to the briefing again, she just had a few moments ago. Could it really be that Vaatu had returned? But how was that possible? Hadn't Korra dealt with him during the last Harmonic Convergence? Desperatly Nadira attempted to calm herself and dismiss the thoughts. What she had seen was in the end nothing more than a machine that happned to look faintly like the spirit of darkness and destruction. There was no proof that there was a connection. _And isn't that exactly the point?_ , she wondered at the same time. Vaatu was a spirit, a creature so far away from machines as it possibly could get. No, it was impossible. Even if Vaatu managed to escape from Avatar Korra it would take him millenia to fully recover, or so Nadira liked to believe.

„Hey, was this all too...straight forward?" The Avatar winced when she suddenly felt the commander's hand clasping on her shoulder.

„No. Okay, perhaps. I am barely used to the normal technology around here. A mad robot? That is a bit overload.", Nadira admitted. If she said otherwise it would be obvious that she was lying.

„Literally.". Shepard chuckled.

* * *

Since 06:00 am ship time Joker had been sitting in his seat on the bridge, piloting the Normandy from system to system and mass relay to mass relay. They had fled Earth so hastily he hadn't even payed much attention to where he flew, except that he wanted it to be as far away from Alliance Space as possible. It had turned out that Shepard found a woman down there. Frozen into the ice, he had been told and she was alive. Yesterday she had woken up and had gone straightly on a rampage.

„Nadira seems to experience major distress.", EDI had informed him.

„Nadira? Is that her name?", he had asked the AI.

„Correct. It appears that she had been frozen within the North Pole for aproximately a century."

Joker had stopped in mid motion upon hearing that. His head had snapped to the AI's avatar and he looked at the blue eyeball sceptically.

„Still figuring out how a joke works, EDI?", he had then shot at it.

„I am not jesting, Mr. Moreau.", EDI had replied.

Frozen! Of course! What else would they tell him, that she could look into the future? Or heal his briddle bones? He had laughed bitterly. On the other hand; the Normandy had never been your ordinary military frigate. Hell, hadn't they discovered that the rachni still lived? And more importantly the Reapers? Okay, maybe it had been possible.

When Joker went to breakfast he had secretly hoped to meet that woman from the ice, but she hadn't been there.

„You're the first.", Gardner had told him when he had sat and ate there. It was true. Joker was the first to arrive at breakfast. He didn't want to leave the Normandy without his care longer than necessary.

„But Ms. Lawson doesn't like her. If you ask me, the girl might be allright. She was only shocked you know. I'd understand that. Would probably react the same, if I'd missed an entire century."

And that was really everything Joker knew about this Nadira.

„EDI?", he found himself calling the AI. _This is only the beginning of the end._ , he thought. To think that _he'd_ actually initiate a conversation with the computer.

„Yes, Mr. Moreau?", it immediately answered.

„In which room does Nadira stay?", he prompted.

„May I know the reason behind this request, Mr. Moreau?" _And what do you care?_ , he wanted to say but kept it to himself.

„Just thought I should know our newst crew member.", he answered. The shade of annoyance not quite concealed.

„Very well. In the Port Observation Lounge on the Crew Quarter's Deck.", EDI finally gave the desired information.

„Thank you, EDI.", Joker said and activated the autopilot for the route he had already set. The commander had said that she wanted to go to Illium next. With great effort he heaved himself out of the seat. He wouldn't be gone for too long, he already decided. Not longer than a few minutes. Joker really hated to leave the Normandy in the care of a computer.

„It would be significantly safer if I would-", EDI remarked upon the activation of the autopilot.

„No!", Joker cut her off. The day still had to come on which Jeff „Joker" Moreau would leave his post to an AI.

He limped through the bridge and to the CIC. „Joker, what are you doing here?", Kelly Chambers greeted him. „Hey Kelly.", he said. „Wanted to meet our new crew member." „Oh, you mean-", the red haired yoeman had started but in that exact moment the door left from the elevator flung open. Shepard passed through it and behind her a woman Joker had never seen before. He gasped unwillingly as he stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. If someone asked him what he thought about her at that moment he would immediately acknowledge that she was possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Not even an asari could possibly compare to her. Her hair was long and curly and framed her even, tanned face just perfectly. She had chocolate brown almond eyes he could lose himself in and full rosy lips he'd kill for, if he was permitted to kiss. And her tall body was curved and rounded just in the right places. _Damn_! _Who needs a super model if you have curves like these?_

„Joker!"

Shepard's firm, commanding voice tore him out of his day dream. He immediatly snapped to attention and straightned himself as far as that was possible for him.

„Yes sir, I, uhm, mean ma'am!"

„What are you doing here.", his commanding officer demanded to know. „Shouldn't you, well I don't know, be flying the ship?"

„Well, uhm, yes, commander. I, uh...will return to the cockpit in a minute, I uh...just wanted to..." Joker found the words stuck in his throat when he looked at the unknown woman who was probably Nadira. And she was staring right back at him. _To him_ , the guy with briddle bone desease, who didn't even earn stares from the hookers on Omega. Could it actually be possible...? From the corner of his eye he cought Shepard looking between him and Nadira and back again. The commander cleared her throat.

„Uh, Nadira? This is Joker, our pilot.", she introduced him to her. So she really was her.

„Joker, this is Nadira. You know the rest."

Mechanically Joker limped a few centimeters forward into Nadira'a direction and offered a hand. She blinked rapidly and just kept staring without moving one bit. He knew he must had looked like a complete idiot, when he first saw her, but he didn't see that as a reason to deny the greeting. _Perhaps it's the limping._ He could play hard as much as he wanted to but it was on occasions like these when his desease cought up to him. He tried to push the bitterness away and kept smiling at the godess in front of him.

„If it's the limping...uhm..that's normal...because..." He didn't get to end his sentence.

„Vrolik's Syndrom.", Nadira whispered, as if someone had told her that her parents died. Still, her voice was rich and soft like velvet. Joker could had just been standing there and listening to it, if it wasn't for the actual content of the words.

„H-How do you know...?", he asked a little enstranged. Joker was fairly sure he hadn't had the pleasure to talk with her and he didn't start to whine about his desease and how he didn't need the pity of others yet. So how did she know? It couldn't be the limping. That could be caused by a variety of reasons, an injury for instance or cramps. Or had it been Shepard or one of the other crew members? Either way, Nadira backed away from him. She didn't accept the hand and without further words dissappeared into the elevator.

Like a heavy sack his hand, which had been risen for a greeting, slumped down to his side, as he simply stared at the now closed elevator doors. Frankly, there had been a lot of people who didn't like him but this encounter was...disturbing for a lack of a better word. He barely knew the woman, yet, as she rejected him so thoroughly Joker felt something within him shatter. Shepard stared at the elevator bay herself now. Apperantly she wasn't quite sure about what she had just witnessed either.

„Back to your post.", she said after a moment. „I'll go check on her. Dammit, and I thought we had it figured out.", Shepard added under her breath after she dismissed Joker and went to the elevator bay herself now.

Joker then turned around to leave, somewhat reluctantly. He saw Kelly look at him, with the same blankness in her face he had in his mind and shrugged at him. Joker knew Shepard was already away but he still gave his answer to her command.

„Aye aye, commander.", he whispered bitterly.


	5. Chapter 5: Lessons

_Hello my dear readers._

 _It took me quite some time, but here I finally present to you the fifth chapter of this fanfiction of which I hope that it has a few people who actually read it. I will try too upload the chapters quicker, but cannot promise anything._

 _Anyhow, enjoy the story and if you feel like it, leave something in the review section. :)_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Lessons**

For several minutes Nadira sat on the wide sleeping couch in the middle of her hollow room, staring out of the broad window into the deep dark star dotted void that was space. The Avatar ran her hands over her face and through her hair, as she remembered the man's face she had just seen moments ago.

 _Good lord in the heavens_ , she thought. _It is him._ Monk Joseph as she remembered him, and yet not. The resemblance was striking, but when she reassessed the features in her mind, she could notice a handful of differences, that weren't that big, but enough for her to not identify him as her spritiual mentor.

The man's... _Joker's_ face was rounder and wider than Joseph's, as was the nose and where Joseph was bald and had replaced the head hair with a blue arrow, Joker clearly kept his hair, though probably short cropped, as far as Nadira could tell form the bit that offered itself from underneath the base cap and around the ears. But everything else about him was the same, almost the same voice, the same manner of speech, the beard and his eyes...

 _Oh my God, the eyes._ The same large round seas of green that sparkled with a fire unwilling to yield to the desease that was Vrolik's Syndrom.

It was a simple meeting, not even very long at that, and still it hit Nadira with such an emotional impact that shook her to the core. She wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry. It was like Joseph's soul had refused to let her go, as she refused to accept that he and so many others were now gone.

A firm knock was heared from behind her automatic metal door. Nadira of course, expected no less than another reprisal from Shepard and thought the Commander would help herself to the large chamber. But she did not. The door remained closed, allowing Nadira to decide wether _she_ wanted to face the consequences or not. The Avatar mentally kicked and got a grip on herself. She knew she had whined enough already, it was time to pull this through. It wasn't like she had any other choice though.

Nadira walked over to the door and tipped a few commands into the green glowing console, like she had observed Shepard do a few times by now. As expected Shepard stood on the other side of the entrance. Nadira expected a whole hearted angry chiding but Shepard kept silent for the moment. Instead she just stared her down. Dissapointment, but also annoyance and weariness visible in the commander's golden eyes spoke for themselves. Nadira inhaled and exhaled heavily. She was very much aware of how she burdened the people around her and she wasn't amused by it either, but then it was also a thing almost entirely outside of her control.

„I'm sorry...", Nadira immediatly began. Shepard just nodded, not averting her gaze a single time, nor did she move a muscle in her face. The silence dragged on for a few seconds and then finally Shepard decided to speak.

„What was it now?", she simply asked, voice calm, but not the reassuring type of calm. Shepard didn't wait for an answer however and kept talking. „Are you done with breaking down on every new thing you see? How many times had you planned on doing this?"

„Commander...", Nadira attempted to intervene.

„Look, I know it is hard to wake up after a long time and everything around you has just changed. I really damned know. But this is no mental institute. It's a damned war ship! If you break now, you're not going to handle anything of what is to come!" Shepard finally ended with an exasperated sigh and half threw her arms in the air but let them slump to her sides in desperation halfway. Nadira actually wanted to explain, and somewhere she had compassion for Shepard's outburst but it also made her angry. So she just crossed her arms and switched to rebellion mode.

„Well, fine, I didn't want to stay anyway. Miranda will be most pleased." Nadira was about to turn and close the door when Shepard stopped her however.

„Wait.", she said and grabbed the Avatar's arm. „I didn't mean it that way. All I am saying is that you need to get your act together or this will be a lot harder than it already is."

„I was about to to do just that, you know.", Nadira protested.

Like she didn't know herself, damnit!

Shepard exhaled again. „Okay, look. I'm sorry and no, you're not leaving any time soon, at least not before you have spoken with the Illusive Man. He is lined up on a comm call in the debriefing room.", the commander apologized and explained. That hit Nadira's conciousness. The Avatar relaxed her tense body muscles and let her arms fall to her side.

„No, I am sorry. I know that wasn't what we all need right now, it was just...", Nadira's voice broke and she fought to return her resolve. Shepard listened patiently.

„He...I mean Joker...he just reminded me of someone I...used to know. Very strikingly so, to be honest." The fact that Monk Joseph wasn't actually around any more just plain hurt.

„I see.", Shepard then said compassionately. „Nontheless you should apologize to Joker for it, explain it to him. I think he took that very hard when you basically ran away from him."

Guilt and regret flooded Nadira's chest. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt him. She barely knew him, clinically speaking, so it simply didn't make sense to do so deliberatly. But she did and of course, she had to apologize.

„I will,", Nadira confirmed. „But not now. I need to prepare for this, be ready."

„I understand. Just do it soon, okay?", Shepard said and gently pulled her out of her room.

Finally, the shady Big Boss himself.

* * *

Joker had limped startledly back to his pilot seat, head still empty and without orientation. He let himself slump into the leather cushions, not entirely carless, though, which was about the only environmental consciousness that remained within himself. For minutes he didn't even turn off the auto pilot. Joker took off his base cap - a gesture he only displayed when under great discomfort - and rubbed his face and then ran the hand through his short cropped hair. What a disaster! Joker was used to not being a woman's first choice of flirt options, he was used to people who disliked him, but none of them reacted with such a repelling rejection like this Nadira, when all he wanted to do was just to say hello. He replayed the encounter in his head, but couldn't come up with a reason why she would dislike him to an extent that she actually wanted to escape. It also couldn't be fear. A limping guy with Vrolik's Syndrom was not exactly intimidating. So he found himself taking the most desperate step he had ever taken so far.

„EDI?", he adressed the AI.

„Yes, Mr. Moreau?", EDI promptly replied.

„There are cameras everywhere on the ship, right? So you basically have vid feed of everything that happens on the Normandy, correct?", he asked.

„That is accurate.", EDI replied.

„So when I met Nadira earlier, did you see if I did something wrong. Have I said something wrong, I mean have I screwed up that badly?", Joker flodded the AI with a stream of questions that easily rivaled Mordin's. At that EDI actually remained silent for almost a full minute, before Joker however could comment on the silence, the blue eyeball avatar finally produced words.

„My programming has not the purpose to assess and make assumptions about organic behavior.", EDI answered and Joker could had sworn he heard something like regret in the artificially generated voice.

„Yeah, of course; the only thing you make assumptions about are my flight skills, thank you very much.", he replied and couldn't remove the sarcasm from the reaction. Joker put the base cap back on and finally got himself to turning off the auto pilot. The meeting still disconcerted him to no end but he was able to put it aside for the time being as he reassumed control over the Normandy.

* * *

Nadira found the way to the debriefing room herself, resulting in Shepard walking by her side instead of leading the way this time. They reached the conference room and the large table suddenly and immediatly lowered itself upon their arrival. Shepard gestured for her to walk into the middle of the chamber, where the large table normally stood. Nadira and Shepard were scanned up and down, while the light in the room was completely dimmed. Shortly after that a holographic image of a sitting man who squeezed the remaining stump of a smoked cigarette into an ashtray next to him appeared in front of them. His grey hair was still full and combed neatly to the sides and back, and his face, while undoutedly marked by age, was handsome in a strange way, more so through the unnaturally blue glowing light of his eyes. He was dressed in a black and whte suite. Although the cut was unknown to Nadira she still could say that it was a very formal, very expensive suite. Men's clothing tended to be vey recognizable and unchanging since the 20th century.

His lit eyes studied her for a moment and he smiled. Not fondly, nor exactly cold, but calculating, a diplomatic gesture to win her trust. Polite but not overtly hypocritical. Still, it was unsettling and Nadira didn't return the gesture. Instead she only faced him, her dark eyes locked on his glowing orbs and for a lack of a better solution crossed her arms. Because his presence -even if only holographic – put her on edge and she needed to do something with her hands.

„The Illusive Man, I assume?", Nadira began the conversation, even to her own astonishment.

„Precisely.", he answered, his voice a dry rasp that didn't quite match his appearance. He visibly was old but didn't look exactly grandpa old, which his voice sounded like, however.

„And I assume you are Nadira, the woman from the ice? A pleasure to finally meet you.", he added, as he lit himself another cigarette. Heavy chain smoker it would seem.

„Correct.", Nadira answered somewhat reluctantly. He nipped at his cigarette and took a deep inhalation from it before he puffed out the clouds of nicotine and whatever other ingerdients cigarettes contained. „Allow me just one question at the beginning, Nadira.", he then said, her name sounded odd spoken by his american accented grandpa voice. „Just how did you get into the iceberg?", he finally asked. Of course Nadira heard the unspoken question that resonated with the initial one. _How did you survive? Just who or what are you?_ From her feeling Nadira could tell that this Illusive Man already had his suspicions, seemingly quite correct suspicions, but he still needed to confirm those, ideally through her.

„I was betrayed and trapped there to rot for the rest of eternity. More I do not know." _And more you need not know._ She was not lying, but was not entirely honest either.

„Hm...", he made and nipped again at his cigarette. „That sounds most unfortunate."

„You don't say...", Nadira replied at that, not hiding the sharp irony in her voice. The Illusive Man countered with a cold, anamused laugh.

„No, not your situation. But I hoped for a more...cooparative relationship between us." He disregarded her backstory like it was some unimportant detail of the past, like she was a child who just lost her cheap toy and he hadn't had the time to listen to such trivialities.

 _Calculating, ruthless son of a bitch._ The thought slipped through her mind like oil and Nadira didn't feel sorry for it, Avatar or no.

In the meanwhile she could feel Shepard straighten up behind her, stepping a few centimeters forward and eyeing her and the holographic image in exchange. No doubt she felt that something didn't quite add up.

„How so?", Nadira prompted dryly.

„I assume Shepard here has briefed you on her mission?", he asked. „She did.", Nadira answered.

„Good. Then you know what's happening to our colonists. Innocent, _human_ colonists.", he put a particularly strong emphasis on the word human for some reason. A pause settled in. Nadira didn't dare to talk. The picture she saw of the abductions were horrible, material for nightmares. Pointing out what was happening seemed pretty pointless to her. He knew all the details. He was the one funding this mission after all and passing it off like a hard girl seemd tactless to her, so she kept her mouth shut. After a while The Illusive Man took the word again.

„The collectors are abducting human colonists for a yet unknown reason and neither the human System's Alliance nor the Council is doing anything about it." More smoke puffed out of his mouth and nostriles.

„So someone has to take care of the dirty work.", Nadira supplied.

„Exactly. Assuming you are what we think you are, you will not let that stand." That one cought Nadira off guard and she almost winced visibly. Shepard at the same time had decided to focus all of her attention on her. The Illusive Man didn't state anything directly, but given Nadira's circumstances combinded with his particular choice of phrasing was enough to provoke the young Avatar.

Basically the same thing that Yuka did a century ago, challenging her very identity and existence. _You may hold that fancy title, but what good are you if you don't act accordingly. If you let these people down._

He was right. There was no way Nadira would let that one stand. She inhaled visibly and sorted out her thoughts. _No_ , she thought and mentally took a step back. _Don't let your pride get the better of you now._ Nadira finally exhaled and faced the Illusive Man directly, back straightned and gaze focused on him.

„Well...", Nadira began and put on a very self rightious smirk on her face. „...I could actually let that stand. The next planet we land on, I can just walk and never come back. You can't force me to stay." The smirk left her expression as the young Avatar spoke and her head rose slightly to let her sight fall upon him from above. A direct tease, a counter challenge to his, showing him that he didn't have the upper hand on her just because he wore a suite and found her in the ice through a lucky guess. No, he had to offer more than just his imaginary superiority.

„Naturally..." he replied blankly. „...that's your good right. But if you give us a chance then you will find that we have the same goals. Just like you, we only perseue humanity's best interest." The Illusive Man nipped again at his cigarette as he ended his sentence. Shepard stepped further forward at this particular statement, eyeing Nadira sceptically and with a deep frown on her face. It clearly took her quite the effort to keep her protest behind her teeth.

It was understandable. Getting lead on, knowing that your being lead on and the absolutely worst part: you couldn't do anything about it! Nadira apologized to Shepard mentally and kept playing along in this game of hidden messages.

„And _we_ are who exactly?", the young Avatar then asked. She didn't miss the fact that he was talking of a plural, though she was not sure if he consciously included her in order to manipulate her.

„Cerberus; a pro human organization and currently the only hope for the abducted colonists.", he explained.

„Cerberus?", Nadira repeated half hissing. „You expect me to trust an organization named after a three headed, fire spitting hellhound?" Sarcasm swinging plainly in her comment and this time she didn't even want to hide it.

„Of course you're suspiscious. If I was in your situation I'd probably react the same. And frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way. You are a smart woman, Nadira and I believe that we can use your skill to save these people. I propose this: You don't have to trust me or Cerberus, but stay long enough to receive your own impression of how grave the situation really is."

Nadira rose an eyebrow. Was he really that desperate that he actually bargained with her?

„I'm listening.", she said dryly. She still didn't trust him, but if the abductions were really that terrible, then she needed to act. And if really nobody else was willing to help then she would agree to a temporary alliance with what seemed to be the lesser evil.

„Shepard will recieve a new mission regarding the collectors. A derelict collector vessel was found by a turian patrol and they have sent a distress call. You will get into that ship, investigate the situation and gather whatever intel you can get. I am certain you are reasaonable enough to see that we must act.", the Illusive Man explained and smoked the last of his second tobacco stick and squished it into the flickering ashtray.

„A turian patrol found a collector vessel? How come I didn't know about this earlier and why didn't the Hierarchy move to that?", Shepard intervened now. Not amused and slowly but steadily getting to the end of her nerves she aproached the image, as if she wanted to threaten the man who was not there.

„We are still gathering details about the incident so you can prepare in the most optimal way. It will be dangerous in there, Shepard. And the turians still don't know anything about the distress call, because we are holding it back until we have finished decrypting it.", he explained unimpressed. Shepard's eyes narrowd with a hint of anger and Nadira eyed the holographic man wearily. He was offering her proof for his claims. Protecting the people was her duty. If she passed this investigation off, then she would have abandoned them. _Well, shit, I am the Avatar._ She had no other choice than to agree. Also, probably he was the only one willing to provide resources for this.

„You can still leave before that mission, Nadira.", the Illusive Man suddenly added. Hell of a risk he took there, leaving her unleashed. Damn, was he convinced!

„I...will stay and go...with Shepard. But if I find out that you are lying, any hint, that you are playing me, then, I swear to God, leaving is the most harmless thing I will do to you!", Nadira hissed her response.

„Perfect.", he only said emotionlessly. „But be assured, under the circumstances you will face, I absolutely have no time to waste with childish charade games." The Illusive Man then began to shift in his seat and finally stood up. His holographic image walked closer to the two women.

„And Shepard, in a few days you will receive further details regarding the mission and when the time comes you will take Nadira with you, understood?" The muscles in Shepard's face visibly tensed up and worked around her jaw. She obviously didn't like when he ordered her around.

„It will be a good opportunity to test her skills in real combat situations.", she then finally answered, forced calmness and professionalism in her voice as she worked around a simple yes- or no-answer that would express subordination.

„Good.", he then assessed and returned his focus to Nadira. „Goodbye, Nadira. Our exchange was most...interesting."

With his final sentence the hologram flickered and crumbled apart, until it finally dissappeard. Nadira and Shepard walked away from the comm panel, as the conference table rose and the room lit up again. It was then that Nadira knew for certain that her identity would not remain a secret for very long.

* * *

For two hours Shepard now sat with Nadira in her cabin, trying to teach her the galactic common tongue as best as she could. She was a soldier and not a teacher after all. But it was pleasantly relaxing and unchallenging. A very welcome contrast to the brain draining activities she normally did. Although the way to the commander's chambers was a very awkward one.

After it had become evidently clear that Nadira and the Illusive Man had known something she appearantly had no idea of she had begun to feel lead on and she had increasingly become pissed off as the comm call proceeded to splash on. Nobody of them had given concrete infromation, only talking around the sensitive intel and yet they had known of what the other had spoken. It nearly drove her mad. Why give her a ship under her charge and name her commander if she hadn't the command over anything? And after that Nadira had kept on refusing to talk to her.

„Why don't you just talk to me?", Mariam had furiously asked. Nadira had deliberatly avoided eyecontact and stubbornly studied the closed elevator door in front of her as they had been lifted up.

„You will know in time. More I cannot promise.", the long haired woman had only cryptically replied with that british language of hers.

And now they sat here, on the couch in the corner in front of Mariam's large bed. Shepard had reluctantly put the topic of Nadira's and the Illusive Man's conversation aside and concentrated on preparing the younger, older woman for her very first shore leave on Illium. To her surprise and pleasure Nadira was a quick learner.

„I'm impressed!", Mariam said as she flew over the datapad she had given Nadira to solve some excersises as a practice. „Almost no errors. Another two hours like this and everyone will swear you were born on the Citadel."

Nadira chuckled, somewhat emberassed. „Thank you, but I always was good with languages. I don't mean to brag, though...", she answered.

„It's not bragging, if you actually do what you claim.", Mariam replied. Shepard then gave her the datapad back and studied her briefly.

British accent, yet she did not look european at all. It wasn't a strange thing, though, that she may have different rutes. She only wondered which those may had been. If she had to guess, she'd go with a southern origin, but not italian or spannish. Nadira was no latin name after all. It was arabic and meant 'the rare one'. Given Nadira's special skills, Mariam found it a quite fitting name. So perhaps her ancestors were north african? Mariam decided to ask her about it, but not plainly.

„But you know...", Shepard finally reintitiated the conversation. „...growing up speaking multiple languages makes it easier to learn new ones, right?", she asked subtly. Nadira smiled knowingly.

„Did my hair give me away?", she asked amused.

„It kind of figures.", Shepard replied. Nadira smiled again and this time it was genuine.

„Yes, it's true. Growing up bilingual gives, let's say, a natural affinity towards languages. You are already used to switching to another grammatical system in an instant and new sounds you already know because they are already present in the second language you already speak. That is also the reason why English came so easily to me when they introduced it in elemantary school.", Nadira explained now. Shepard payed particular attention to the last sentence.

„Introduced in elementary school? Does that mean you are not a native english speaker?", Shepard asked unbelievingly. If Nadira hadn't said it the commander would had sworn that the woman came straight from Oxford. But now, here she was, telling her that she had learned English as a third language in school and she spoke it accent free. And on top of it she memorized galactic almost immediatly. Her remark upon Nadira's correct exercises had been meant as an encouraging tease, a joke not too seriously meant. But as Mariam processed this new infromation, Nadira might actually go out after another few hours and sound like a station rat through and through. A linguistic genius.

It was then, when Nadira finally answered.

„No, I wasn't born in the UK. My great-grandparents came from Tunisia and Algeria in the 1990s to Germany. It was an obligatory subject in school since third grade and many students struggled with it. They had particular problems with pronouncing the 'th'. I could do it immediatly, because the same sounds were also present in arabic which I already fluently spoke. It was funny." Nadira seemed to relaxe when she talked about the past, her facial features took a faintly lighter tinge and she smiled more frequently. It was a good thing to witness, progress compared to the very first hours after she had awoken.

„I see. But still, I would have expected a light foreign accent. Though I have to ask, why the british pronounciation in particular?", Shepard asked. It's not like non-native speakers were taught american accented english only. Quite the contrary. But through american media, mostly movies which were the dominant transmitter of the language many tended to develope an american toned accent. Nadira not much so however.

„Oh I had a few wonderful teachers who exclusively insisted on british pronounciation. One of them hated the american accent so much, he threatened every student who said 'dence' and 'cen't with cleaning up the whole class room after the end of school.",Nadira answered and gave her best to form the american swing that went with 'dance' and 'can't' correctly in her mouth. It visibly was unfamiliar and thus awkward to her. Mariam actually laughed at that. „Because America is only an oversized copy of the original?", Mariam mused. „So to say. He would take a stance in the middle of the class room, stamp his fists into his hips, give us the most depreciating look he had in store and using his most arrogant voice, tell us that we are middle-europeans, so we speak proper european english, which happens to be british." The younger woman half laughed as she gave her response. Probably she remembered the occasion all too fondly and the memory let her relaxe a bit further.

„But enough of me. What about you? You sure know how it is to have more than one mother tongue in store yourself.", Nadira now remarked and locked her gaze on Shepard. „Smart girl.", the commander answered. „Was it that obvious?"

Shepard wasn't white but it couldn't have been the skin tone. With her accent she could pass as an american. Then it came to Shepard; when she had introduced herself she told her her first name.

„Your name.", Nadira confirmed. „Though the arabic first name doesn't really fit with the american/european last name."

„Yeah, though I have to say, I don't really identify with any of Earth's nationalities.", Mariam began her explanation.

„Colony kid? I mean, if there are colonies, then there must be a few who grew up there."

„No, spacer kid. My parents are both active soldiers in the Alliance. Dad is originally from New York with irish and french ancestory. Mum was born in Seattle, but still has known family in Tunisia, too and Egypt, but I never was there. The assignments my parents had frequently changed, so I spent my life in almost every military frigate the alliance has to offer. Sometimes space stations and very rarely they had an assignment on a colony."

„That must have been equally exciting and exhausting." Nadira commented.

„Yeah, it was. I sure have seen a lot of things and I would never give the experience I gained in exchange for something else, but it lacked stability. I never had real friends, because we never stayed too long in one place. Oh, I'm rambling again." Shepard cought herself pittying herself again. It wasn't like she had had a traumatic childhood. Her parents gave her all the love and care there was in the galaxy. But whenever she remembered those days the other thoughts inevitably came to her mind.

„It's a beautiful name. I like the symbolism behind it", Nadira then suddenly said.

„What, oh, thank you...?", Mariam said slightly off guard. Frankly, she never thought of her name as symbolic. She actually found it pretty main stream and uncreative, because every second arabic girl was named 'Mariam'. Other than that she viewed it as a compromise between the western and oriental parts of her familiy.

„Well, I mean it symbolizes the relationship of your parents so nicely. Named after the holy Mother of Jesus, revered in both religions, Christianity and Islam.", Nadira clarified she must had heard the confusion in Shepard's voice. When the airbender pointed it out, it started to make more sense. 'Mariam' was just the arabic form of 'Mary'. Wether she was the mother of God or of God's son or just of a messanger of God, it was unimportant. Either way the name meant the same person. And both beliefs held her in high regards. It was also the connection between her parents. Though mixed religion marriages were no rarity nowadays, it still could bring some issues with it, depending on the people involved. Her mother had explained it once to her. When she had been born they hadn't known what to name her. Her mother's family had insisted on an islamic name, while her father's family had argued that they didn't want a name impossible for them to speak. So they had made this decision, a compromise. Her arabic family would call her Mariam, while the western party could also call her Mary which on the other hand could slip through as an endearment for the others. It had been the most important and the last matter in which both of her parents had obeyed their families. Afterwards they had taken a stance and told everyone to fuck the hell off, if they had had a problem with their life style and parenting methods.

„I think it does.", Mariam answered after she had thought about Nadira's interpretation.

„You still in contact with them?", then the airbender asked. A hint of pain in her voice gave away that she didn't get over the fact that _her_ family was gone yet.

„Yes, sometimes, Mum calls or I call. Dad writes a mail every now and then. They are both still on active duty.", Shepard said and stood up from the couch. Nadira gave her a confused look.

„They are still working? Aren't they, well, too old?", she questioned. First Mariam became confused herself but then she remembered that humans back in the day rarely got over a 100. „They would be retired if we met a century ago. But average life expectancy for humans has increased in the past decades. It is possible for a human to reach 150 now.", Shepard answered. „Wow, I really did miss a lot.", Nadira mumbled now, more to herself. She didn't question it any further. It was clear that with a longer life span, retirement age would come later than a century ago. Shepard walked behind her desk and crammed out a digital picture frame out of it. She returned to the younger woman and handed her the device. „These are my parents. John and Hannah Shepard.", she then introduced. Nadira studied the picture and a smile appeared on her face. It showed a small family. A woman – dark skinned, black hair and dark large eyes - and a man – skin significantly lighter than his wife's, blond short cropped hair and warm hazel eyes- both in military uniforms in the colours blue, black and gold, smiling into the camera while they both had their hands placed on the shoulders of a younger woman. It was Shepard herself and it became clear that most of her looks she got from her mother, except for the eyes, those she got from her father. Though on the picture she still had long hair, held together as a ponytail. Her uniform similiar to the one of her parents but not quite as impressive, less bars on the shoulders and no medals, compared to the decorated chests of her parents.

„Graduation day?", Nadira asked. „Yeah, still with my wild, rebellious mane that day.", Mariam answered. Nadira silently returned the photo to Shepard, who stowed it back in her desk. It was a very private piece of memory she normally didn't show anyone. But for some reason she felt the need to show it to Nadira now. Perhaps it just fit into the conversation. Shepard cought the long haired woman watching the fish. Nadira then looked at her. „The fish are beautiful.", she said. „I never saw any of these, though.", she added. „That's because they're not Earth-grown.", Mariam replied. „Oh.", Nadira said. „Fascinating."

„Really?", Mariam asked. If she hadn't known any better she would say that the other woman was mocking her. „Yes. So familiar and yet so different.", Nadira answered. Once again, Shepard was impressed by the deep sophisticated mind of the other, which seemed to see the bigger meaning behind everything.

„Thanks.", the commander said for a lack of better words to use. „So...", she redirectd the exchange. „Back to buisness?" And by that she meant the language lessons and their little superficial crash course in xeno-biology.

Nadira nodded wordlessly and Shepard grabbed once again a datapad and let herself fall on the other side of the couch as a response.

* * *

A few more days on the ship passed. Nadira had received more information about non-council races she hadn't seen yet, namely the elcor, the volus and a synthetic race called the geth but aso a little more information about the batarians had been at hand.

Nadira's eyes had widened in awe when she had been shown the elcor in particular: huge herbivores, with an undistinguishable mouth (at least to her), a massive body, covered in thick grey skin (somewhat like an elephant) and carried mostly by two huge armes that were larger than the shorter legs. Emotional nunaces could not be heard, she had been told, so they had to anounce how they felt upon every statement they made to avoid misunderstandings, which Nadira had found adorable in way.

Also, Jacob and Shepard had begun to give her basic weapon training.

„I don't think it will be necessary.", Nadira had objected. What she actually had meant was that she hadn't been certain if it had been a very wise choice to let her run loose with a fire arm. Because she had been shitty in aiming. Of course she had been able to direct her bending as she pleased. But the major difference had been that she kept control over the element until it hit its intended target. Shooting, or even throwing a ball? That had been a complete different story, because over these things control had to be released eventually and from that point on only God decided wether the projectile hit its target or not. Or so it at least always had felt in PE classes.

Nontheless, her breathless objection had seemed to have hit a solid brick wall.

„You can't go out there without a gun! You'll die the moment you set foot on a hot zone!", Jacob had argued. He had seemed to have already decided that she had become part of their little suicide squad.

„What Jacob means, is that it's always good to have multiple defense strategies at hand. You'll never know what we might have to face", Shepard explained.

So they had lead her back to the shuttle bay, hung a few improvised and badly cut targets at one end of the room and placed her on the other. And then they lively had argued about which gun would suite her best.

„A pistol is just the right thing! It's light, easy to handle and...", Jacob said.

„And is slow. A pistol has about the same fire-rate as a sniper-rifle, Jacob and I already talked that one out of Garrus.", Shepard ended his statement.

„Uh-huh: And your submachine gun is better?", Jacob replied.

„Yes, it is. It's also light and has a high fire rate, which...", Shepard argued back now.

„Which will tear her arms out of her spine. No offense, Commander, but what you're saying there is bullshit. Everyone knows that pistols are best for rookies.", he answered.

„If you would just listen Jacob, than maybe you'll see my point! What I wanted to say is that the high fire rate will allow her to pull a fire defense quickly.", Shepard completed her statement.

„And shoot off the heads for her squad-mates, too while she's at it. No, I'll stay with the pistol. Minimal chance of a shot going sideways.", Jacob insisted.

„Oh really? I mean it's not like she'll have to aim for her target first and then MISS it, because she is still a rookie. Not to talk about the amount of time she'll need until she gets a lock! You can't expect her to to aim and shoot in five seconds like a veteran when she only started learning it a few weeks ago!"

„She'll have to learn how to aim anyway, even with your submachine gun!"

„Yes, but this way she can shoot quickly, because at least one shot will find its target eventually!"

The ranting went on for a while in which both soldiers presented the best sides of their suggestions. After a while in which Nadira had lost track of the argument she went in between the two.

„How about I try both and see what works better with me?", she suggested.

„Right. I was about to say just that!", Shepard agreed.

„Fine with me.", Jacob simply replied. But the fight of the two veterans was not over as the Avatar hoped. Both of them tried to get her to try their favorite first, until Nadira had enough, took both models and placed them on the table next to her, where also all the ammo layed around. She studied both guns intensly before she simply took the pistol out of a random impulse. Jacob however seemed to regard it as some sort of revelation as he began to grin widely. Nadira weighed the pistol carefully in her hand. Jacob walked closer to her and began to explain how to use it.

„Here, let me show you.", he began. „You see this opening on top? That's where you open the chamber for the ammo. We use thermal clips to improve the cool down time of the weapons. You put them like this into the chamber and then close it.", he explained as he demonstratively loaded the small gun in her hand. „It will beep when the gun is out of ammo. And of course you'll have a ration of re-supplies. But the thermal clips used are the same and universal everywhere. Sometimes enemies will drop theirs. Should you run low on ammo you can just pick up the thermal clips you find lying around on the ground.", he proceeded. Nadira only nodded. She still didn't like the thought of herself shooting around and playing soldier. She tried to soldify her stance for a test, remembering more of her earthbending training and attempted to aim, as she raised the fire arm in front of her eyes. Jacob again took now control over her hands. „Good start, but _that's_ how you actually hold it.", he commented and moved the hand that was wrapped around the other hand holding the trigger. He released it from the grip and dirceted it to the short shaft of the weapon. „Stability is important when you fire the gun. It is small, but under no condition should you ever underrestimate the draw-back force of a fire arm. That can be pretty nasty.", he laughed shortly. „Still remember my first time holding a gun. I thought I was so cool, aiming and shit. But then I fired and my fist with the grip landed in the middle of my face. That freaking hurt, I can tell you that!" Jacob laughed again. „Alright, that looks good...", he said now half absentmindedly. „For an optimal stable grip you'll have to tense up your whole upper body, shoulder musculature, chest and back. Additional muscle training can help with that.", he proceeded to explain. Nadira tried to do as she was told. She felt the muscle in her shoulders tighten and tried to pull the chest and back muscles along. „Okay, let's see if your hand is stable enough. I'll give your arm a push and I don't want it to swing even a centimeter.", Jacob anounced and really pushed her arms shortly after that. Nadira did her best not to move, her gun holding arm did swing a little bit though. „Was that okay?", she asked. She couldn't quite fathom if the movement was still acceptable or extensive. „It's okay for a start, but we'll work on it.", he replied as he now walked again closer to her and helped her aim the gun. „That'll be something that you'll just have to practice. You'll get the jist of it eventually.", Jacob commented and took a few steps away from her to finally let her shoot. She had become so used to Jacobs aiding hands she suddenly felt so completely lost and helpless. The Avatar took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. She reflexivaly closed her eyes firmly and winced as the gun's blast was heard. When she opened her eyes she saw that she had missed phenomenally. The improvised targets remained unscratched. Jacob pulled slightly into himself and Nadira let her gun holding hands sink and took a look around her. Shepard looked like she was ready to jump away at any moment.

„Was I that bad?", the Avatar asked insecurely.

„Huh. Bullet hit the wall on the other side and almost came straightly back at us!", Jacob answered.

„We still have to work on your aim!", Shepard clarified and threw Jacob a self-righteous smirk. „But we'll have to change the targets. We didn't consider this kind of developement.", the commander ended.

„Yeah, I'll go talk to Kelly for you. See if she can arrange some more...consistent targets.", the dark skinned man anounced and made his way to the elevator bay. It didn't take him long until he returned with a few old boxing sacks from the training quarters that no one needed any longer. Jacob and Shepard arranged the sacks at the end of the shuttle bay and fastened the improvised paper targets on them. Then they returned to Nadira, who practiced the proper grip of the gun.

„Okay, try it again. And don't be afraid of the blast. Keep your aim steady, whatever the situation or you'll die in real combat! Understood?", Jacob said and positioned himelf behind Nadira, crossing his arms as he studied her critically.

Nadira tried to stabilize her stance again and aimed for the middle sack at the other end of the room, trying to focus on the black circle in the middle of the paper target. Tensing the muscle in her arms and shoulders she pulled the trigger once more and prepared herself for the loud blast. She couldn't help but wince again but this time tried to keep the gun at least focused enough so it hit in direct proximity of the target's black center. Jacob reacted with a light clap. „Nice shot! For a rookie. Repeat that a few times to get a feeling for the gun.", the weapon specialist suggested and let the Avatar do as she was instructed. Nadira did take a few more shots. The second shot she managed to get closer to the center. The others she tried to aim at the other targets, on all of them she missed the center, though the bullets at least hit the shot zone. But as Shepard predicted, it took her time to get a proper lock, since she had only one shot per round. Every miss would be a costly mistake in real combat, an uncesessary risk taken, as she would come out of cover only to waste her ammunition. The weapon laid well in the hand nontheless and didn't need special extra expertise to utulize. That was a huge plus.

Nadira laid back the pistol on the little table and took the submachine gun instead. Visibly larger and heavier it felt slightly unfamiliar (compared to the pistol). Shepard now stepped forward and instructed her in holding the weapon as Jacob did earlier. Basically it was like the pistol. The ammunition chamber was located on the upper part of the gun's shaft, trigger at the grip and like earlier she had to hold the grip with one hand and steady the gun with the other underneath the shaft. The difference was that the submachine gun had more shots per round, making it a semi-automatic weapon.

„You need to be careful with the fire rate. So many shots per round make weapons extremely unstable which means that you'll have to make up for it with your own body strength.", Shepard warned as she guided Nadira's hands to the correct spots of the weapon to guarantee a secure grip. The airbender swallowed under her breath and pulled the trigger. Unintentionally she unloaded a wave of bullets on the target dummies, as she failed to estimate the capacity and strength of the shot. The result was a crooked line along all the targets lined up against the other wall.

„Oh..", Nadira only could bring out as she studied the artwork she had just created. Jacob fell into loud, whole hearted laughter and Shepard only displayed a wide grin, which was however hard to read. Nadira was not sure if it was a smile of satisfaction or one of desperate defeat.

„Also nice shot...", Jacob snorted, clearly thinking he won his little competition against Shepard. The commander however kept her composure and walked straightly to Nadira to pat her shoulder appreciatively.

„Actually, if this would be a real fight, a whole line of enemies would be dead.", Shepard commented. Jacob fell silent momentarily. „Well...", he said, rubbing his neck with the hand he just had held his stomach with. „...It could also be a line of allies.", he argued back.

„Oh come one! Now you are just living in denial.", Shepard said.

„Just stating facts here, ma'am.", he responded.

„Can I say something?", Nadira intervened, though she still felt miserabely out of place.

„Be my guest.", Shepard gave her the word.

„I think I will go for the pistol for the start...", she began.

„YES!", Jacob interrupted her with his joy but regained his self control quickly. „I mean, you made a wise choice there."

Nadira studied him briefly. This whole by-play already started to feel childish since they first entered the shuttle bay. From that moment on it stopped being about Nadira's competency on the field. It was about who was right.

„But I will not abandone the submachine gun completely. After this, I do see how it could be very useful.", the Avatar lead her attention to herself again. The spark of triumph in Shepard's golden eyes was not to be overseen.

„That's it then. You'll take the pistol with you first and keep on practicing both while not on missions.", Shepard summerized this whole meeting.

„But you're having the pistol, right?", Jacob asked almost frantically. Shepard sighed in exasparation. „Yes, Jacob. She'll have the pistol first."

„Good, I mean, just wanted to clarify things.", he defended himself and walked over to Nadira again to reintsruct her in the uasage of the pistol.

For the next two hours Nadira trained with the pistol under the supervision of Jacob and Shepard. Again and again she had to memorize the loading process so it would become just another routine. She wouldn't have the whole of eternity on the real battlefield after all, too.

And time and again she had to memorize the correct aiming technique. Following the gun's shaft was a good guide towards her target, she was told. The rest was estimation and luck she simply needed to get a feel of as time passed by. In other words; she had to repeat it a whole lot of times until she would eventually get it right.

And when the training ended Nadira managed to get the shots at least a few milimeters closer to the target's centers. A little succes at least.

* * *

Another day passed and during dinner in the mess hall Shepard finally anounced that Nadira would be hitting solid ground the next day.

„We'll be landing on Illium, tomorrow. You will get new gear and clothing.", the commander explained as she cut herself a piece of the meat on her plate. It was marinated with an undefinable red sauce and rounded with a mix of vegetables and a few spoons of rice on the side. Nadira had been already told that Rupert's dishes were often special, to put it mildly. The mess chef had offered her to call him by his first name, after she had offered to help him with drying the dishes once, when she again had felt so utterly useless and out of place on the ship.

„You know, you remind me a bit of that girl in my highschool, 40 or 50 years ago?", he had intiated a conversation.

„Is that so?", Nadira had slightly nervously commnted.

„Yes. I found her so pretty and she was so nice to me, always sharing her home made fruit pie with me...", he had told her further.

„Fruit pie?", Nadira had asked. The word had suddenly caught more attention than the Avatar had been originally willing to give.

„Yes. Sweet, little pies and the best part was the cream on top. What a little artwork.", he had agreed without any idea how close to home he had hit Nadira.

„I am sure.", she commented bitterly and forced herself to smile. Gardner however hadn't noticed the change of Nadira's mood, so he had talked merrily on.

„Anyhow. I found her so pretty and nice that I decided to ask her out for prom.", he had continued.

„And?", Nadira had inquired, mainly not to slide into awkward silence.

„And she refused. Didn't talk a word with me from that day on. I don't think I ever was that heart broken.", he had proceeded.

„I'm sorry.", Nadira had commented.

„Yeah, in the end it was not all that bad. The only thing I ever ended up missing from that girl were those tasty fruit pies.", he had said then.

„Really?", Nadira had kept the exchange going.

„Yes! It was because of her and those pies that I decided to become a cook. So I could figure out how she made them.", Gardner had responded.

„Did you?", Nadira had asked further.

„That's the hell of it! I'v tried, a hell of a lot of times. But I never managed them like she did. Would give almost anything to taste those little fuckers again.", he had kept on dreaming.

„Were they really that good?", Nadira then had asked and put another glass to the side she had had dried.

„A piece of heaven! And that cream!", he had dreamed.

Nadira had abruptly listened up and tilted her head to the cook as she remembered Monk Joseph's fruit pies. „I see why you love them so much. Perhaps I can help you with finding the recipe?", she then had suggested. Gardner had tilted his half balded head to her now.

„I'd like that! Thanks for helping me with those dishes.", he had answered.

„No problem, Chef Gardner.", Nadira had responded and had been about to turn around and leave. Gardner had stopped her however.

„Tell you what kid; you have helped clean up this mess and what's better, you want to help me with those pies. I like you and that means you can just call me Rupert.", he had then offered. Nadira had smiled warmly as a response.

„I will. Thank you...Rupert.", she had said and had tasted out the man's first name on her tongue.

The Avatar smiled slightly as she remembered the conversation. Then she focused her attention on Shepard.

„Illium? An asari world, right? Why start there specifically, though?", Nadira asked.

Shepard swallowed her bit of meat, before she answered.

„I have...buisness there anyway and it's as good as any place to start. Also I think the asari produce the best lines of battle equipment and armor for female soldiers.",the commander answered.

„I see. And what kind of buisness do you have there?", Nadira inquired further. Shepard stopped in mid motion a she guided another piece of meat to her mouth.

„You picked up a curious one there.", a male, subvocaled voice commented. Garrus emerged from the Main Battery. The tall turian took a large plate and put food from seperate containers, next to the one from where she and Shepard had taken their meals, and sat next to Shepard, also facing Nadira. The Avatar laughed a bit.

„Sorry. I don't mean to hang on your skirt like a little kid.", Nadira apologized.

„It's okay, I'd imagine I'd do the same if I was in your place. But it's enough for you to know that we'll have two more crew members after we are done on Illium. The details are simply of no importance to you.", Shepard explained and finally took that bite she had stopped herself from taking.

„That sounds like a few missions you'll be taking _me_ on.", Garrus said and turned his head to the woman.

„You know the drill, Garrus. I'll be seeing you for the mission briefing 5 minutes after dinner.", she anounced, grinning somewhat mischievously.

„Aw, I knew it. And I so hoped I would get the day off tomorrow.", he commented equally mischievous.

„What can I say, Garrus? If something works, keep it.", she laughed and took now bits of vegetables and rice on her fork.

„Well, of course I'm the best shot on this ship, so I understand your choice. Just promise me I won't be crawling through icey ducts again.", he answered and gave Nadira a knowing glance from his blue piercing eyes.

It took the Avatar a second until she realized what he meant. Then it occured to her that he was on her rescue mission.

„I guess I was the last person you had to dig out of a glacier.", Nadira commented.

„No offence meant against you, Nadira but I just hate the cold.", Garrus responded.

„It's alright. I understand.", Nadira smiled and observed the two soldiers in front of her. Garrus's only smiliarity with a human was that he stood on two leggs and that he was conscious. Other than that, he was as alien as anyone could get. And yet, if Nadira didn't know it better she would swear that the two were flirting with eachother. She was not sure how she felt about it, if it would really be the case. It wasn't really apelling, but definately not something she was used to. Nadira put the thought aside. If there would be something, she would know it soon enough, she figured.

A few minutes later they all had finished their meals. Nadira returned to her cabin and saw Garrus follow Shepard to the elevator as she closed the door to her room.

Thoughts that hadn't occured to her before started to fly through her mind. What had happened to her trusty tiger she wondered. She had left Sheyla badly injured as she had fought Yuka. And did they even retrieve Takashi's body? She could easily imagine that some people would like to hide any clues related to Yuka's betrayal.

The questions lead to nowhere ultimately, but only tired her mind, until she finally fell asleep.

The next day Nadira was woken up by the ship's AI.

„We have begun the aproach on Illium. I suggest beginning preperations for the landing soon.", EDI had infromed her.

„Thank you EDI. I'll be up and going in a minute.", Nadira had replied. The young woman hadn't really much, so she wouldn't need extra time for deciding on what to wear. It was only the shower that took a bit more time, but after an hour she was dressed and sat in the mess hall, as she consumed her breakfast. But the fact that she was alone at the table disconcerted her slightly.

„Where are the others?", she asked Rupert as he passed by to change an empty buffet bowl with a full one.

„The commander and the others ate very early on already. Talked of a mission or something.", he answered.

„Oh, yes I remember. Thanks, Rupert.", she answered as it occurred to her.

„No problem, kid.", he replied. In the following moment EDI's snythetic voice rang out.

„Nadira. Commander Shepard requested your presence on the CIC.", it anounced.

„I'll be going then.", she told Rupert quickly and left.

As Nadira exited from the elevator and walked onto the CIC she saw Commander Shepard, however not in the black and white uniform. Instead she was buckled up in a completely black painted armour. There was a breast plate, completely designed to fit her froms, protecting her chest, a piece protecting her lower torso, pieces to protect her shoulders and greaves to protect her arms and legs. Underneath it looked like she wore some kind of jumpsuite, that looked like it was tightly knitted so it would withstand a certain impact. Two guns were attached to Shepard's back, which Nadira did not recognize (one of them had an organic, stony structure) and a third pistol the commander was buisy with attaching to her side. Overall Shepard looked like she was a figure jumped out of a sci-fi movie and signficantly more impressive than Nadira was used to. Next to her stood Tali and Garrus, also doing last checks on their weapons before fastening them on their backs or belts, also buckled up in shiny, futuristic armour.

„Ah, Nadira, you came.", Shepard greeted her.

„I usually don't arm myself to the teeth when I go shopping. I feel underdressed.", Nadira responded sarcatically and half laughing.

The group answered with laughters themselves.

„Don't worry. You didn't break any dress codes.", Shepard responded.

„But gotta look serious when doing some arms shopping.", Garrus added jokingly.

„When we are done with you. You will look like you have been working with us for over twenty years.", Tali commented, also slightly amused.

„Beginning descend on Illium. Docking in thirty minutes, Commander.", Joker's voice anounced through the comm. Nadira winced slightly upon hearing the way too familiar sound. Her apology to him would be harder than she had anticipated.

The ship began to rock slightly, as it undoutedly entered the planet's atmosphere. The sudden movement caught the Avatar by surprise and she reflexivaley held onto something, slightly afraid that she would fall. Shepard patted her shoulder encouragingly.

„We should be able to see the cities underneath. Wanna come to the bridge and take a look.", the commander asked.

„I don't think I want to face Joker before I have apologized properly.", Nadira tried to object.

„I am asking you to look out of a window, not to engage into deep philosophical conversation with the pilot.", Shepard said.

„But perhaps, he doesn't want to..", Nadira attempted again.

„He wants what his commander wants.", Shepard simply said and dragged the insecure woman out of CIC and onto the bridge.

„Hey, Commander, we are almost...", Joker began as they entered his working place. The pilot stopped suddenly as he laid eyes on Nadira. Their eyes locked for a brief second before he turned around again and pretended she was not there. A knot in her throat formed, Nadira tried to swallow.

„...there.", the pilot ended his sentence when he had fully truned around.

Luckily Shepard didn't let them slide off into awkward silence, instead she just guided the Avatar towards the window and Nadira was thankful for it.

The view was simply breath taking. The sky was bathed in orange and violet as Illium's sun had begun to rise over the planet's day side. Sky scrappers built from crystal glittered in the early sun light. It's lakes and oceans sparkled with equal majesty, as if they wanted to compete with the artificially created land scape. As they neared the docking bay Nadira could make out the first aircars that began to make their way through their asigned air roads, bringing their drivers to their workplaces or home. The feeling of a sci-fi movie became even stronger, only this wasn't just an obvious setting or CGI animation but real. She had known for days that she had woken up a century after her fight with Yuka. But only then it became truly graspable.


End file.
